Pilot saves lives of 148 passengers after hearing 'voice' telling him to take off 3 minutes early

"Batik 6321 clear for take off," were Anthonius Gunawan Agung last words before his death, as a huge earthquake and tsunami tore through Palu, Indonesia.

The 21-year-old control tower operative had stayed behind in the office at Palu Aiport to watch pilot Ricosetta Mafella steer his 148 passengers and crew to safety, and his heroics proved costly as his passage down the turret was blocked off as the building sustained damage from the 7.5 magnitude quake.

The control tower at Palu Airport lying in ruins after being struck by an earthquake in 2018 (Carl Court/Getty Images)

With the four-story tower shaking, all of his colleagues managed to escape, and he was the only man left behind. His only escape route was to jump, which he did but broke his leg and suffered severe internal injuries.

He was rushed to hospital where he only received basic treatment for his wounds, and while waiting for a helicopter to arrive to take him to a better-equipped facility, he tragically succumbed to his injuries.

The Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami took place on September 28, 2018 - claiming the lives of 4,340 people in the process.

Anthonius Gunawan Agung has been hailed as a 'national hero' for saving the lives of 149 people (Indonesia Airnav)

Reflecting on the incident at the time, Batik Airways pilot Mafella told the BBC: "I was rushing to leave. There was a voice in my head that told me, just get out of here immediately.

"I told my crew and the ground crew to speed up."

At 6.02pm, Mafella's plane was on the runway already and took off three minutes before the scheduled departure time. The 44-year-old described Agung as a 'guardian angel' and a 'national hero'.

While the passengers onboard had no idea of the devastation they were leaving behind, from the cockpit Mafella could only watch as he saw huge waves approaching from the coastline.

Batik Airways pilot Ricosetta Mafella took off three minutes early to help save the lives of 148 passengers and crew onboard (Ricosetta Mafella)

"I saw it was a wave moving in a circle with a huge radius, it was getting bigger and bigger but I didn't know what it was," he explained to the publication.

"I tried calling the air traffic controller a few times to tell him that I saw something, but there was no answer."

He would only discover later why no one would reply to him.

Mafella shared with the news outlet: "I'm in a WhatsApp group with other air traffic controllers and one of them told me that they had asked Agung to get away from the tower. But he said wait, wait, Batik is still here.

"When I found out what happened, I was speechless."