Seventeen’s singer buries wife and bandmates

JAKARTA: The frontman of popular Indonesian pop group Seventeen buried his wife, compounding a tragedy that saw his three bandmates also killed when a tsunami tore into their open-air concert.

Dramatic footage posted online showed fans clapping and cheering before the wave smashed into the concert, hurling band members from the stage and slamming into the audience.

Lead vocalist Riefian Fajarsyah posted a video clip of himself on social media stroking the coffin of his wife, actress and TV personality Dylan Sahara, in her hometown of Ponorogo on the eastern side of Java island.

“How can I live without you, Dylan Sahara?” Riefian wrote on his widely followed Instagram account on Tuesday.

“Thank you guys for your prayers. Only God can repay your kindness. Please send prayers for my wife Dylan so she will be at peace.”

Dylan, who was running for a parliamentary seat in next year’s elections, was identified at a hospital late on Monday, according to Indonesian media reports.

The 25-year-old daughter of a well-known Indonesian politician was present when the wall of water swept through a company-sponsored event at the Tanjung Lesung beach resort on the western tip of Java where the band was playing.

It was a day before her 26th birthday.

“(She) was not perfect and neither am I, but she never stopped trying to be the best wife,” Riefian said in his emotional online tribute. “I could not ask for more.” Tens of thousands of sympathetic messages were posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday, including those from celebrities and politicians.

“Deepest condolences bro. May you have strength and patience and may your wife be granted the best place alongside God,” famous Indonesian singer Judika wrote online.