Indonesia earthquake: 21-year-old air traffic controller stays on duty till death

Jakarta, Sept 29: Among the unfortunate victims of the massive earthquake that devastated Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province on Friday (September 28) was a 21-year-old aviation official who chose to remain on duty till the last. Twenty-one-year-old Anthonius Gunawan Agung was an air traffic controller in Palu, the city in the province, who was killed in the aftermath of the quake. Agung was a flight navigation service personnel with AirNav Indonesia's branch in Palu.

"When the earthquake occurred, he had just cleared a Batik Air flight for take-off and waited for the aircraft to be safely airborne before finally leaving the ATC cabin tower," AirNav Indonesia spokesman Yohanes Harry Sirait was heard telling reporters on Saturday, September 29.

After his job was done, the young officer found himself trapped and had no other choice but jump from a four-storey tower and was grievously injured. He succumbed to his injuries before help reached him, the report added.

The spokesman condoled Agung's death and said his body will be flown to Makassar and then to his hometown in Abepura, Papua province, Indonesia.

The death toll in the 7.5-magnitude earthquake that hit the South-East Asian archipelago jumped to 384 on Saturday.