An Indonesian band called Seventeen was performing on the beach in Tanjung Lesung, a popular resort in Banten province overlooking the Sunda Strait, when a tsunami surged into the back of the stage.
The band was entertaining some 260 staff and family members from a division of the state power company PLN.
“We were singing our second song when suddenly a big wave crashed from behind the stage,” Seventeen’s lead vocalist Riefian Fajarsyah, also known as Ifan, later told news broadcaster TV One.
A short video widely shared on social media showed the band playing at the moment the wave hit, causing it to instantly collapse. Screams can be heard as the clip abruptly ends.
The vocalist said he floated on the water for about two hours with dead bodies around him. When he was finally able to get ashore, he found the bodies of Bani and road manager Oki Wijaya among some debris.
Eighty-nine people at the event were still missing. About 157 people, including some badly injured, were already accounted for.
“We continue to keep tabs on staff and search for victims,” PLN spokesman I Made Suprateka said.
“We are also restoring the electricity network to make it run as normal,” he added.
It’s just one area hit by the waves that smashed into houses, hotels and other beachside buildings on Saturday night along Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, in a disaster that followed an eruption and possible landslide on Anak Krakatau, one of the world’s most infamous volcanic islands.
At least 222 people were killed, more than 800 others were injured and dozens were reported missing after the tsunami hit coastal areas along western Java and southern Sumatra islands at 9.27 pm amid a Christmas holiday weekend, the Disaster Management Agency said.
The death toll could increase once authorities hear from all stricken areas.
It was the second deadly tsunami to hit Indonesia this year, but the one that killed more than 2500 people on the island of Sulawesi on September 28 was accompanied by a powerful earthquake that gave residents a brief warning before the waves struck.
On Saturday night, the ground did not shake beforehand to alert people to the oncoming wave that ripped buildings from their foundations in seconds and swept terrified concertgoers on a popular resort beach into the sea.
Azki Kurniawan, 16, said his first warning about the tsunami was when people burst into the lobby of the Patra Comfort Hotel shouting, “Sea water rising!”
Kurniawan, who was undergoing vocational training with a group of 30 other students, said he was confused because he had not felt a big earthquake. He said he ran to the parking lot to try to reach his motorbike but discovered it was already flooded.
“Suddenly, a 1-metre wave hit me,” he said, his eyes red and swollen from crying. “I was thrown into the fence of a building about 30 meters (100 feet) from the beach and held onto the fence as strong as I could, trying to resist the water, which felt like it would drag me back into the sea. I cried in fear … ‘This is a tsunami?’ I was afraid I would die.”
Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 222 deaths had been confirmed and at least 843 people were injured.
The worst-affected area was the Pandeglang region of Java’s Banten province, which encompasses Ujung Kulon National Park and popular beaches, the agency said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed his sympathy and ordered government agencies to respond quickly to the disaster.
“My deep condolences to the victims in Banten and Lumpung provinces,” he said. “Hopefully, those who are left have patience.”