Two students drowned in Makassar waters

The Jakarta Post , Makassar | Mon, 11/10/2008 10:43 AM | National

Two university students drowned after they were swept away by a flash wave while diving in the Makassar Strait near Lae-lae Island on Sunday afternoon.

The victims are Syahrul Sayuti,23, a senior student and Dedi, 19, a junior. Both were biology students from Hassanuddin University in Makassar, participating in a training program organized by Canopy, the university's mountain climbing and jungle hiking club.

Dedi and nine other juniors were participating in the last session of the training, in which they would receive a membership number at the club. The seniors sunk cards with numbers on them and the juniors had to dive and retrieve them.

Andis, one of the senior students, said that each junior was accompanied by two seniors in the diving, which took place at around 02:30 p.m. local time.

"Syahrul and I accompanied Dedi. We were diving when the wave hit us and drowned Dedi. Syahrul and I tried to help him, but we failed. Syahrul was later drowned by the wave too," he said during an investigation at West Makassar Police office.

The bodies were found by fishermen not far from the scene about 15 minutes after the incident.

Separately, Third Deputy Dean of the university's mathematics and sciences faculty said the university had not known about the club's training activities and was waiting for the results from the police investigation before taking any further action against the seniors. (dre)

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