20-crew fishing boat still missing in Sulawesi water

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A fishing boat carrying at least 20 crew members has been reported missing since last week in waters east of Wawonii Island in South Konowe regency, Southeast Sulawesi province, amid rough seas there.

The Tiga Bersama motor boat, driven by H. Hasan, was declared missing on Aug. 28 after going fishing in waters east of Wawonii and the Banda Sea, Bambang, operations head of the search and rescue agency in the Southeast Sulawesi capital of Kendari, was quoted by Antara as saying on Wednesday.

The ill-fated vessel left the Langara seaport in Wawonii subdistrict on Aug. 26, but its whereabouts remained unclear on Wednesday.

"A boat usually goes fishing in the Banda Sea for three days at the longest. But the Tiga Bersama has not returned in over a week," Bambang said, quoting Langara seaport head M. Yusuf.

H. Umar, the owner of the Tiga Bersama vessel, has deployed two of his other boats to search for the missing vessel.

The search also involved local residents, including fishermen, along with the rescue team from Kendari, and was conducted between waters off Wawonii Island and Samarengga Island in Central Sulawesi.

Tragedies at sea in Indonesian waters have frequently been blamed on human error, often caused by overloading.

The Kendari SAR team asked the owners of fishing vessels and fishermen to sail in a "collective manner" so as to help each other in case one of their boats faces difficulties.

"Fishermen working off Wawonii Island and Banda Sea have to be more careful because the waters will remain rough until the end of September," Bambang said.