South Korean athlete missing in Palu earthquake

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN) -- At least 20 participants and committee members of the Indonesia Open Paragliding Cross Country Palu Nomoni have been rescued after an earthquake, tsunami and mudflow devastated several areas in Central Sulawesi, while several others remain missing.

Tagor Siagian, a public relations officer with the Indonesian Aero Sport Federation (FASI), told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that 20 athletes, competition committee members and coaches had been rescued and had landed in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Saturday night.

But we are still looking for seven pilots, one of them is Dongjin Lee, a South Korean based in Bali,” Tagor said in a message.

The athletes were competing on Salena Hill in Palu from Sept. 24 and were supposed to be there until Sept. 30. However, on Sept. 28, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the area, killing at least 832, while thousands more are feared dead.

The earthquake also caused several hotels in Palu to collapse. The Sya Regency Palu hotel, Mercure hotel and Roa Roa hotel collapsed, trapping guests and staff under debris.

Personnel from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) had begun evacuating earthquake victims from under the debris of Roa Roa hotel on Sunday. Some of them heard a person shouting from under the debris, calling himself Yoga from Bali and saying that he was a participant of the paragliding competition.