An attempt to break a tug-of-war record in Indonesia went horribly wrong after what was described as a freak accident killed one of the 5,000 participants in the event.
Yesterday, an alumni association of Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi sought to break an Indonesian World Records Museum (MURI) record for most tug-of-war participants.
Five thousand participants took their places on either side of a1.5-kilometer rope, which stretched along Jalan Jendral Sudirman in the provincial capital.
An event organizer said that as both sides pulled on the rope, one woman, who was identified as a neighborhood chief named Masita B, was not paying full attention to her surroundings.
“She was taking a selfie. She was holding on to the rope while taking a selfie. All of a sudden she was pulled,” the organizer said.
Masita reportedly fell forward and hit her head against a concrete road separator. She passed away from severe head trauma.
The organizers said Masita’s death was purely accidental and that they had observed safety precautions throughout the event.
Makassar Mayor Mohammad Ramdhan “Danny” Pomanto also said that nobody could have foreseen this tragedy.
“Our anticipatory measures were complete. We had supervisors observing distance [between participants],” he said.
Three other participants reportedly suffered injuries in the incident.
