An air traffic controller has been hailed a hero after losing his own life while ensuring a passenger aircraft got away from Friday’s deadly Indonesian earthquake.
Twenty one-year-old Anthonius Gunawan Agung was at the control tower of Palu airport in central Sulawesi when the 7.5 magnitude quake struck.
He was giving clearance to a Batik Air aircraft to take off when the earthquake hit.
He waited until the aircraft was airborne before jumping from the control tower, breaking his legs, arms and ribs as a result.
He died before he could be transferred to a specialist hospital.
“Agung dedicated himself to his job until the end of his life and did not leave the control tower until the plane took off,” Didiet KS Radityo, the corporate secretary for Air Navigation Indonesia, told the Jakarta Post.
The earthquake occurred just off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, triggering a deadly tsunami bringing six metre-high waves.
Many people were on the beach in Palu, preparing for a festival, and were caught when the waves swept in.
More than 830 people are confirmed to have died but the number of fatalities is expected to multiply.
Rescuers were awaiting heavy machinery to search the ruins of a hotel, where more tan 50 people may be trapped, and a shopping centre as aftershocks made it unsafe for them to go in.
Indonesia’s vice-president Jusuf Kalla has said the final death toll could be in the thousands while the Red Cross estimated that more than 1.6 million people have been affected, the BBC reported.
The disaster follows a series of five major earthquakes and aftershocks to the north-east of the island of Lombok in late July and August 2018, with tremors still being felt in September.
The quakes resulted in more 500 deaths and significant damage to buildings and infrastructure, most severely in northern and western areas of Lombok, north of the capital Mataram, and in the Gili Islands.
Friday’s earthquake and tsunami hit Central Sulawesi.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in an uodated travcel advisory: “Casualty figures are still being assessed, with rescue and humanitarian relief operations on-going.
“Communications, buildings and transport infrastructure have been severely damaged.
“The British Embassy in Jakarta is monitoring the situation closely and liaising with the Indonesian authorities to establish facts.
“You should be aware of the continued risk of aftershocks. If you are in the area you should exercise caution, stay away from collapsed buildings, monitor the local news and follow the advice of the local authorities.”