Rescue teams managed to safely evacuate I Wayan Mondoran from the bottom of a gorge he had fallen into yesterday while reportedly about to pick bananas for the island’s upcoming Galungan festival.
The accident happened in the village of Tihingan, Klungkung, where Mondoran tends to the community’s rice fields, together with his nephew, I Wayan Agus Saputra, 27. When Mondoran didn’t show up for morning tea at 10am, his sister-in-law Wayan Ruka, became worried.
“Usually at 10 o’clock in the morning, we come home from the rice fields to eat. At noon, he still hadn’t returned home,” said Ruka to Jawa Pos.
Fearing something was amiss, Ruka and Saputra went back to the fields to look for their their relative. After checking the rice hut and scaling the paddies, the pair discovered Mondoran’s hat and sickle on the edge of a grassy precipice.
Saputra immediately rushed back to seek the help of local residents. By 1pm, officers from Banjarangkan Police and Klungkung Search and Rescue had also arrived on the scene.
According to a report by Nusa Bali, getting down to Mondoran safely was a tricky task due to the rough terrain and narrow ravine gap. However, two rescue team members, Wayan Ariawan and Agus Sudanta, managed to descend to the bottom using safety ropes. When they found Mondoran, he was sitting upright in a conscious condition.
Ropes were attached to the Klungkung grandfather and he was successfully hauled to the surface, where he was piled onto a stretcher and carried five kilometers through rice paddies to the nearest main road. According the source, the whole rescue effort took around two hours.
Once the rescue party reached the highway, a waiting ambulance rushed the injured farmer to the emergency room at Klungkung Hospital.
Mondoran is currently being treated for a number of injuries, including bruising to the head and abrasions on several parts of the body. He also has suspected fractures in his arm, thigh and jaw.
“We plan to carry out X-Rays and a CT scan on the patient to determine whether there are fractures and abnormalities in the brain,” explained Dr. I Nyoman Kesuma, Director of the Klungkung Hospital.
