Ship sinks in Flores, three dead, eight missing<\/p>\n
Jacob J. Herin and Jemris Fointuna,
\nThe Jakarta Post, Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara<\/p>\n
More than 40 persons of Search and Rescue Team (SAR) have been
\nsearching the waters off Flores Island since Saturday for eight
\ncrew members of a cargo ship who went missing after their ship
\nsank on Tuesday last week.<\/p>\n
The eight were among the 12 crew members of the Belaza Timor
\nship, which is owned by a businessman in East Timor.<\/p>\n
"Three bodies have already been found dead and one person has
\nsurvived the incident," Adj. Sr. Comr. F.X. Bagus Wahyono, the
\nchief of Sikka police precinct, said on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
The only survivor was the captain of the ship, Kristianus Lela
\nSura. He was found by local residents on Saturday, or four days
\nafter the incident, in Kojadoi subdistrict in Sikka regency, a
\nfew kilometers north of Maumere, the biggest city on Flores
\nIsland. Sura has been admitted to a hospital in Maumere.<\/p>\n
Sura told police that the ship, which was carrying staple
\nsupplies, embarked from Surabaya seaport in East Java and its
\ndestination was Dilli, the capital of East Timor several weeks
\nago.<\/p>\n
But, during the journey, the 1,700-ton vessel was struck by a
\nheavy rain storm last week, in the waters off Flores Island, some
\n11 miles north of Maumere.<\/p>\n
The waters are part of Sikka regency territory, one of the
\nregencies in East Nusa Tenggara province.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the wooden-made cargo ship was not equipped
\nwith lifebuoys.<\/p>\n
"I ordered the crew to prepare jerrycans, which we will use as
\nlifebuoys. They did so, but suddenly, a big wave hit our ship and
\nsank the ship. My crew and I struggled to get to the jerrycans,
\nbut we were all separated by a big wave," he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, the residents of Sinar Hading and Kawaliwu
\nsubdistricts on the north coast of East Flores regency found
\nthree unidentified bodies on a beach on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Bagus Wahyono said that the three bodies would most likely be
\nthe crew members of the cargo ship. The police are investigating
\nthe identification of the bodies.<\/p>\n
According to Sura, the 11 other crew members were Abubakar,
\nSimon Apolla, Jhoni Pai, Jhoni Alberto, Jonathan, Abraham,
\nHijrah, Semy, Joe Derustam, Muhamad Sabil, and Irwan.<\/p>\n
The joint SAR team comprising of 42 persons from the police,
\nthe Indonesian Army and Navy, were still searching for the
\nmissing crew.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ship-sinks-in-flores-three-dead-eight-missing-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}