11 kids drowned, 10 rescued in Indonesian river cleanup

Local officials said 150 students from an Islamic junior high school were participating in the cleanup

Eleven students drowned and 10 others were rescued during a school outing for a river cleanup in Indonesia’s West Java Province, officials said October 16.

Local officials said 150 students from an Islamic junior high school were participating in the cleanup on October 15 along the banks of the Cileueur river when 21 of them slipped into the water.

“The weather was good and there was no flash flood," said Deden Ridwansyah, chief of the Bandung Search and Rescue Office. “Those children who drowned were holding each others’ hands. One of them slipped and the others followed,” Mr. Ridwansyah said.