West Papua Police to Reconstruct Fatal Accident in Arfak Mountains

JAKARTADAILY.ID - The coffins of illegal mining workers in West Papua arrived at El Tari Airport Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

The 18 bodies were workers from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) who were victims of an accident at an illegal mine in West Papua.

The victims died after the truck they were traveling in had an accident at KM 10 in the Arfak mountains when they were about to go to the city center on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

To explore the unfortunate case of the 18 workers, the West Papua Regional Police will immediately conduct direct reconstruction at the illegal mine.

In addition, West Papua Police Chief Inspector General Tornagogo Sihombing will also reveal illegal gold mining activities in the area.

Later, the disclosure of these activities will also be included in the reconstruction of the deadly accident that claimed 18 lives at the crime scene (TKP).

"Reconstruction of the fatal accident that claimed 18 lives will start from the location of the illegal gold mine to the crime scene or TKP," said Inspector General Tornagogo in Manokwari, Thursday, April 14, 2022.

The police chief does not deny that there are illegal mining activities in several areas of West Papua. However, it is difficult to uncover such activities because the locations are typically hidden and hard to reach.

"This deadly accident incident is certainly a [learning experience] for the government and all law enforcement agencies in this province so that we are more alert to mining activities that threaten human safety and the environment," said the police chief, as quoted by Antara on Friday, April 15, 2022.

All 18 victims were stated to be residents from East Nusa Tenggara who worked as miners in West Papua. They were part of the 79 people who took a truck to go to the city center in Papua.

Meanwhile, 16 people were from Belu and Malacca Regencies, one person from Amarasi Kupang Regency and one person from Sikka Regency.

The article was translated from Pikiran-Rakyat.com's article titled "Pasca Kecelakaan Maut di Pegunungan Arfak, Polda Papua Barat Akan Gelar Rekonstruksi".

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