ICAO Honors Anthonius Agung for Saving Air Passengers during Earthquake

Jakarta, MINA — The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has honored Anthonius Gunawan Agung, an air traffic controller (ATC) who was killed after guiding hundreds of passengers on Batik Air 6321 to a safe take-off during an earthquake.

The Batik Air flight had taken off from Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport just as a 7.5-magnitude earthquake shook Palu on September 28, 2018.

The honor from ICAO was presented at the opening of the 55th Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation for the Asia and Pacific region held in Fiji on October 22, 2018, as stated in a written statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received by Antara here Wednesday.

A plaque was presented by ICAO Secretary General Fang Liu to commemorate the sacrifice of Anthonius Gunawan Agung. The plaque was accepted by the representative of the Planning and Control Division of Aviation Navigation Services, AirNav Indonesia.

“He guided the plane safely and it shows his total commitment to flight safety. Hopefully, he will always be remembered,” Fang Liu said.

Anthonius Gunawan Agung, age 21, was working at the air traffic control (ATC) center at Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport, Palu, Central Sulawesi, when an earthquake and tsunami struck on September 28, 2018.

Anthonius did not leave his station and continued to guide Batik Air 6321 to take-off and fly to Makassar, South Sulawesi. The airplane he guided took off safely, however, the ATC tower collapsed due to the earthquake, killing Anthonius. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)