Search ongoing for South Korean tourist off Indonesia's Gili Trawangan

North Lombok, NTB (ANTARA) - A joint search and rescue (SAR) team is scouring the waters off Gili Trawangan in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province for a South Korean tourist who went missing while snorkeling on Tuesday.

Authorities identified the missing woman as 31-year-old Cheon Yuri.

Coordinator of the Bangsal SAR Alert Unit I Gusti Komang Aryadana noted in Mataram, NTB, that the incident began around 12:30 p.m. local time (GMT+8) when Cheon was snorkeling near a coastal restaurant.

"She separated from her companions to look for sea turtles. A witness had seen the victim swimming and floating without difficulty in the water," Aryadana stated.

However, when her companions returned to shore around 2 p.m., Cheon was nowhere to be found. After an initial search by her friends and residents failed to locate her, they reported the incident to Gili Indah Subsector Police.

Rescue teams were immediately dispatched, using speedboats to sweep the waters where Cheon was last seen.

The joint operation involves the Bangsal SAR Alert Unit, the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL), the West Nusa Tenggara Water and Air Police, the North Lombok Water Police, the Pemenang Sector Police, as well as Gili Indah non-commissioned village military officers (Babinsa).

Local search and rescue volunteers, residents, and fishermen also joined the search operation. Despite the coordinated effort, the first day of the search concluded without success.

"The search has not yielded any results as of tonight. The SAR operation is temporarily suspended and will resume tomorrow morning (Wednesday, October 7)," Aryadana said.

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Translator: Akhyar Rosidi, Uyu Liman
Editor: Primayanti
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