Digger used in mosque search
KARANGPANGSOR: Rescuers on Indonesia’s quakehit island of Lombok dug through the rubble of a mosque yesterday, hoping to reach the aunt of a sprinter who became a national hero last month at the under20 world championships in Finland.
Salama (52) was at a prayer class in the mosque of Karangpangsor village when the 6.9magnitude quake struck the tropical holiday island on Sunday evening, killing more than 100 people and leaving thousands homeless as buildings collapsed.
She is an aunt by marriage of Lalu Muhammad Zohri, who just over a year ago was hardly known outside his village.
The 18yearold became a household name almost overnight in July, when he won the 100m gold at the World Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland. Now he carries the hopes of the Southeast Asian nation at the Asian Games it is preparing to host in coming weeks.
Rescuers used a mechanical digger to clear a jumble of metal rods and concrete beside the stillintact green dome of the mosque, but there have been no signs the woman was alive and relatives were losing hope.
The search effort at the mosque ended after dogs failed to find more bodies and no other families reported missing loved ones there, said Anak Agung Alit Supartana, who heads the region’s Search and Rescue Agency office.
Supartana said two people had been found alive, along with three bodies. But the rescuers and heavy equipment were ‘‘very much needed elsewhere’’.
However, hopes of finding more survivors are fading and a
humanitarian crisis is looming for thousands left homeless and needing clean water, food, medicine and shelter.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency on Tuesday put the death toll at 105, including two on the neighbouring island of Bali, and said the figure was expected to rise. — Reuters