RRI.CO.ID, Magelang - The search for two missing victims of the Mount Merapi cold lava flow has entered a critical new phase, with rescue teams now scouring a seven-kilometer stretch of the Senowo River in Magelang Regency, Central Java. As the operation reached its fourth day on Friday, March 6, 2026, authorities shifted their strategy toward a more aggressive, mechanized approach to penetrate the massive deposits of volcanic debris.

The joint Search and Rescue (SAR) coordination, Arif Yulianto, remarked that the mission has been restructured into three specialized units to maximize coverage across the treacherous terrain in Magelang. This tactical shift comes as the team battles the sheer volume of sand and boulders deposited when the rain-triggered lahars surged down the slopes of Merapi last Tuesday.

"Both manual searches and heavy equipment are being utilized. The first unit is expanding the search around the initial incident site up to the dam, utilizing two heavy machines," explained Arif, as quoted by Antara.

While the first team focuses on the primary site, a second unit is concentrating its efforts near the location where a victim named Heru was previously recovered. Simultaneously, a third unit is conducting a downstream sweep, trekking two kilometers further to ensure the current has not carried the remaining victims deeper into the river system.

"Thank God, we received an additional heavy equipment unit today, bringing the total number of machines deployed in the search operation to four," remarked Arif.

Despite the reinforced fleet, the environment remains a formidable adversary. Rescuers are forced to navigate unstable piles of sediment that have dramatically altered the river's geography.

The disaster struck on the afternoon of March 3 and has already claimed three lives. Families and the community now wait for news of the two residents still missing beneath the volcanic waste. ***