Video footage shows the moment a tsunami hit a beach concert in Indonesia, leaving band members dead or missing, on Dec. 22.
The band appears to be finishing a song when the stage vanishes as it is overtaken by water. Members of the audience and band scream as the stage is brought down due to the water.
Seventeen’s lead singer Riefian Fajarsyah wrote on social media on Dec. 23 that his wife and the band’s drummer are still missing. He paid a tribute to the band’s manager and bassist, who reportedly died.
“I just want to say that our bass player Bani and our manager Oki Wijaya passed away,” Fajarsyah said while crying, according to CNN. “Please pray that we can find Andi, Herman, and Ujang and my wife,” he added. The band was in the middle of a show organized by Indonesia’s state-run electric company. They were apparently unaware of the tsunami.
“Underwater I could only pray,” Zack, a crew member of Seventeen, said on Instagram. “In the final seconds I almost ran out of breath,” he said, adding that he held onto a collapsed part of the stage to survive the ordeal, reported Channel News Asia.
“We were shocked because a lot of the people who went there took their families,” Yulia Dian, a manager for the band, told the outlet in Jakarta. “They’d been sharing stories they were having fun at the beach and we didn’t expect this.”
There was no earthquake associated with the tsunami, and it was likely caused by a combination of underwater landslides due to a volcanic eruption, the BBC reported, citing government officials. The hardest hit area was the Sunda Strait.
Red Cross official Kathy Mueller told the news outlet, “There is debris littering the ground, crushed cars, crushed motorcycles, we’re seeing buildings that are collapsed.” The road into Pandeglang was seriously damaged, hampering rescue and recovery efforts.
Officials said more than 160 people died in Pandeglang, and another 48 died in South Lampung on Sumatra. Deaths were reported elsewhere.
Coastal residents reported not seeing or feeling any warning signs on Saturday night, such as receding water or an earthquake, before waves of 2-3 meters (6-10 feet) washed ashore, according to media. Authorities said a warning siren went off in some areas, Reuters reported.
Oystein Lund Andersen, a Norwegian tourist, was in Anyer town with his family when the tsunami struck.
“I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20 meters inland. Next wave entered the hotel area where I was staying and downed cars on the road behind it,” he told Reuters.
“Managed to evacuate with my family to higher ground through forest paths and villages, where we are taken care of by the locals,” he added.
Officials told residents and tourists in coastal areas around the Sunda Strait to stay away from beaches and a high-tide warning remains in place through Dec. 25.
“Those who have evacuated, please do not return yet,” said Rahmat Triyono, who is an official at the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency.
Reuters contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
