Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Rescue efforts are still underway to locate five workers trapped at underground mine at PT Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg Block Cave in Papua after hit by landslide. Five out of seven workers remain trapped nearly a month after the incident occur in early September.
PT Freeport Indonesia President Director Tony Wenas said on Thursday that rescue teams have identified the location of the missing workers. However, the team are facing difficult conditions that have slowed evacuation efforts.
While rescuers have narrowed down the site, Wenas said conditions inside the underground mine continue to pose obstacles for the team’s advance.
Wenas calculated that the team will be able to reach the workers location in about 4-5 days. He hoped that the rescue operations would ended soon.
“The terrain is very challenging. Hopefully, within the next four to five days we can reach the location where we believe they are,” Wenas explained the progress made by the company’s rescue teams on Thursday (Ocotober 2), as reported by Antara.
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Previously, The landslide struck Freeport’s underground Grasberg Block Cave mine in Tembagapura, Mimika Regency, Central Papua, on September 8, 2025. A surge of wet mud flooded the tunnels around 10 p.m. local time, trapping seven workers inside.
Rescue teams managed to recover two of the missing workers on September 20. The victims, confirmed to be Indonesian nationals, with both were found dead. They were employed as electricians by PT Cita Contract, a contractor for Freeport.
Freeport Indonesia President Director Tony Wenas said the company suspended operations at the Grasberg Block Cave since the incident. The decisions, he states, was to focus all resources on the search for the five workers that still missing.
“Production has been halted since September 8. Right now, our priority is the rescue of the five employees who remain trapped underground,” Wenas said.
(Raidi/Agung)
