A 21-year-old Indonesian air traffic controller sacrificed his own life to ensure a passenger jet took off safely during the 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck Sulawesi last Friday.
Anthonius Gunawan Agung was on duty in Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport near the city of Palu when the earthquake struck.
In an incredibly selfless act, he refused to leave the air traffic control tower until the Batik Air passenger plane he was guiding was airborne.
Image: Daily Express
After the flight was cleared, Anthonius found himself trapped and was forced to jump from the four-story-tall tower as the tremors grew stronger.
As a result, he suffered a broken leg and other internal injuries and died while he was waiting to be evacuated by helicopter.
The pilot of the plane he saved, Icoze Ezoci, took to his Instagram page to pay tribute to Anthonius as his “guardian angel”.
The timing was incredibly tight with the pilot saying that he had less than 30 seconds to spare when escaping the island.
“Rest peacefully my wingman. God be with you,” he said in an Instagram post.
AirNav Indonesia spokesman Yohanes Harry Sirait said Anthonius’ body will be flown to his home town in Abepura, Papua, where his family awaits.
Anthonius was one of more than 800 people (sadly a figure which is expected to climb into the 1000s) who were killed in the quake and tsunami in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province over the weekend.
- READ: Devastating Indonesian quake toll predicted to reach thousands
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