An Indonesian pop band lost its bass player and road manager after a tsunami struck the beach where the band was performing Saturday night, according to reports.
In a news release, the band named Seventeen confirmed the deaths of bassist M. Awal Purbani, also known as Bani, and road manager Oki Wijaya, the Jakarta Post reported.
Four others associated with the band – guitarist Herman Sikumbang, drummer Andi Windu Darmawan, crew member Ujang, and Dylan Sahara, wife of vocalist Riefian Fajarsyah — remained missing, according to the paper.
moments before the Tsunami crashed on the pop band Seventeen on Saturday night
Seventeen, a band that was formed in 1999 by three teenagers, was performing at an event held by state electric company PLN near the shore of Tanjung Lesung beach when the tidal wave hit their stage around 9:30 p.m.
Social media footage of the disaster shows the stage lurching forward into the audience along with the band and its equipment.
Fajarsyah posted a video to his Instagram account, confirming that several band members and his wife, Dylan Sahara, had not been found, according to the Post.
A member of the Indonesian band Seventeen, Riefian Fajarsyah, gives account of the lost members on InstagramSome of the members of the Indonesian pop band Seventeen
The Indonesian government has said the tsunami, which struck without warning around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait on Saturday night, has claimed dozens of lives, left hundreds injured and others unaccounted for.
Scientists from Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics agency said it could have been caused by undersea landslides from the eruption of Anak Krakatau, a volcanic island formed over years from the nearby Krakatau volcano.
Hundreds of homes and buildings, including hotels, were swept away.
