Bengawan Solo boat tragedy: Bodies of seven students recovered from river in Java

Rescue teams have found all seven bodies of the students who went missing after their boat overturned in the Bengawan Solo river.

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Rescue teams have found all seven bodies of the students who went missing after their boat overturned in the Bengawan Solo river in east Java on 7 October.

The last body was discovered on Sunday morning, floating in the river. The victims are aged between 12 and 19.

According to news portal detikcom, a member of the police who helped in evacuating the bodies said that the local people helped them using their wooden boats them to carry out the search operation.

The wooden boat, that was carrying 25 students from the Langitan Islamic Boarding School across the Bengawan Solo river, capsized on last Friday morning. However, 18 students survived the boat accident.

As reported by the Jakarta Post, East Java Police spokesperson Argo Yuwono said: "According to witnesses, the river current was quite strong, creating instability for the boat."

Officials said they suspect that the boat was overloaded.

"They were about to reach land, about seven metres away or so, but the kids, probably from over excitement, came to the front of the boat, making the boat unbalance," said a local disaster management official, according to AFP.

Choirul Anam ,one of the survivors, told detikcom that he held onto the capsized boat along with three other students behind him as he did not know how to swim.

A massive search operation was launched immediately after the accident but the rescue teams were not able to find anyone for a long time. They said rain, muddy water and strong currents were hampering the search operation.

Many accidents involving traditional wooden boats have occurred in Indonesia which has a poor water transport safety record. In 2011, a boat carrying 40 passengers capsized and sank while crossing the Bengawan Solo river.

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