Many of Jakarta’s waterways have recently undergone drastic transformations from being filthy trash dumps to sparkling clean (by Jakarta’s standards), and much of the credit must go to the Sanitation Agency’s “Pasukan Oranye” (Orange Troops), who are doing a fantastic job cleaning up the city’s rivers and canals.
Sadly, tragedy struck today as one Orange Trooper slipped into and drowned in the Sekretaris canal in Grogol, West Jakarta.
It was reported that the victim, named Usman, was tasked with picking up trash in the canal alone on a dinghy this morning. At around 8:30 am, he slipped out of the dinghy as he was reaching for trash.
“The victim’s friend, who was standing on a levee not far from the scene of the accident, saw the victim calling for help,” said head of Crime Investigation at the Tanjung Duren Police, Antonius, as quoted by Vivanews today.
Soon after, Usman was completely submerged in the water and drowned. A search team comprising of police officers and firefighters eventually located and retrieved his body.
It’s very sad to hear that someone died while doing the hard and quite literally dirty work that we all benefit from. We hope that we can all at least honor Usman, as well as all the other hardworking Orange Troops, by doing our part to keep the capital’s waterways clean.
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