20-crew fishing boat still missing in Sulawesi water

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.