A rescue service official said Friday that 11 youths who tried to cross a river during a trek in Indonesia have drowned and two are in critical condition.
About 150 members of a Muslim scout organization, aged 13 to 15, were moving on the river Sililur when 21 of them tried to stop it.
Supriano said locals were able to rescue ten of them, an official – known by the same name as many Indonesians – from search and rescue services in Bandung, in the region west of the island of Java.
“Two students (…) are in critical condition at the hospital, while eleven have died,” he said.
Authorities were investigating the circumstances of the crash and verifying that all participants in the hike had been found.
AFP
Despite warnings from the National Disaster Prevention Agency, students made the hike to clean up the edge of the stream.
In February 2020, ten scouts were swept away by flash floods and about 20 were injured.
During the rainy season, which begins at the end of November, children and young people are barred from climbing rivers.
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