Jakarta. The colossal earthquake that rocked parts of Turkiye and Syria earlier this week had killed two Indonesians as of Friday, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

“An Indonesian mother and child have died in the Turkiye quake. After contacting their family members in Indonesia,  we decided to bury the victims in Kahramanmaras,” Judha Nugraha, the ministry’s citizen protection director, told reporters in Jakarta on Friday.

The Balinese woman was married to a Turk. The couple, along with their one-year-old child, died after being trapped under the rubble. 

The Indonesian Embassy in Ankara previously reported that five Indonesians, including two spa therapists in Diyarbakir, had gone missing following the gigantic quake. The embassy has finally gotten hold of the once-missing Indonesian mother and her two children in Antakya.

“We have also established contact with one of the spa therapists, and thank God, the person is okay. However, we are still trying to reach the other spa therapist. That is why we have dispatched a team to Diyarbakir,” Judha said.

The embassy has evacuated 123 Indonesians, including two Malaysians and one Myanmar citizen, to the ambassador's residence in the Turkish capital Ankara. 

When asked by the press if the government would repatriate the evacuees to Indonesia, Judha said “we will leave it up to the citizens. [...] Most of our citizens there are married to Turks, so they already have a family there. Our priority is to evacuate them to a safe place, and the evacuees are already safe and sound in Ankara.”

As for the wounded, the embassy is evacuating six of the ten injured Indonesians to Ankara. The other four have received treatment at local hospitals. Many of them are suffering from broken bones. 

“All ten are in stable condition,” Judha said. 

According to Judha, Indonesia will dispatch a medium urban search and rescue team on Saturday to Turkiye. The Southeast Asian country will also deploy an emergency medical team next week.

To date, no Indonesian has been injured or killed in Syria following the quake. A total of 116 Indonesians live in the impacted areas in Syria. 

Read More:

• Turkiye Quake: Ten Indonesians Wounded, Food Aid En Route to Gaziantep
• President Jokowi Expresses Condolences as Turkiye Earthquake Death Toll Passes 3,700

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