Battling 6-Metre Waves: SAR Team's Struggle to Rescue KMP Putri Yasmin Victims

Waves as high as six metres confronted the joint SAR team as they searched for passengers of the KMP Putri Yasmin, which caught fire in the waters off Sekotong Beach, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Amidst the rolling sea, the team had to calculate carefully to locate and evacuate the 59 victims.

The captain of KN SAR 220 Mataram, Nurdin, and his team departed for the search around 4.40 a.m. Central Indonesian Time on Wednesday. At that time, sea conditions were quite extreme with waves reaching four to six metres. “So we had to face waves of four to six metres,” Nurdin said at Lembar Port on Thursday.

These conditions forced Nurdin to be extra cautious in making decisions. He chose to steer the ship directly into the waves to prevent the port or starboard side from being hit. “We had to hit the waves head-on, meaning we could not expose the port or starboard side of the ship. If we had taken the wrong action or position at that moment, it was possible that we, the rescuers, would have been swallowed by the waves,” he said.

According to Nurdin, the sea current at the time tended to move southwards, towards waters bordering Australia and the Indian Ocean. “The current’s position at that time tended to be southward, automatically bordering Australian waters,” he said.

Just before 8.00 a.m. Central Indonesian Time, the SAR team’s struggle paid off. They found a clue to the victims’ whereabouts in the form of a life raft floating in the sea. The team then combed the area. A total of 59 passengers of the KMP Putri Yasmin were found about six miles from the initial location where the ship caught fire.

“At 8.00 a.m. they were found. At that location, we found a point where a life raft was floating, and we hoped there were passengers from the KMP Putri Yasmin. Alhamdulillah, with patience and spirit, we were able to find the victims, even though they were already six miles from the KMP Putri Yasmin,” he said.

Nurdin admitted his feelings were mixed when he saw the victims. He was happy to have found them, but also sad to see their condition. “When we saw and found them, there was a feeling of happiness, but also sadness seeing the condition of the victims who really needed help,” he said.

According to Nurdin, some of the victims had already lost hope of survival. They had resigned themselves to their fate after being tossed around at sea for hours. “Actually, the victims were already pessimistic about surviving. They had already assumed there was a 99 per cent chance they would not live. But upon seeing the rescue team, that spirit returned,” Nurdin said.

Finding the victims was not the end of the struggle. The SAR team still had to carefully calculate the right moment to bring the victims aboard. The large waves caused the ship to rock continuously. The team worried that the victims could be swept away or struck by the ship if the evacuation was rushed. “It was not possible to evacuate them directly onto the ship. Because of the wave and current conditions, our ship was also rocking. We were worried that if we took the wrong action, the victims could be run over by our ship. So we had to calculate very carefully,” he said.

The team then waited until the waves subsided slightly. A rope was thrown to the victims to keep them close to the rescue vessel. “When the waves calmed down, we threw a rope so that the victims’ position would not be far from the rescue ship. Slowly, one by one, we pulled them up onto the ship using the rope,” Nurdin continued.

Around 9.00 a.m. Central Indonesian Time, all 59 victims were successfully brought aboard the KN SAR 220 Mataram. The ship then took them to Lembar Port, arriving around midday. The KMP Putri Yasmin had caught fire while crossing the waters off Sekotong Beach, West Lombok, in the early hours of Wednesday. The Mataram SAR Office received information about the incident from the captain of Rescue Boat 220 Mataram, Nurdin, at 4.39 a.m. A 50-second video received by detikBali showed plumes of smoke causing panic among passengers, all of whom were seen wearing life jackets. A total of 212 victims were evacuated to Lembar Port, while 35 others were evacuated to Padangbai, Karangasem, Bali. One passenger was reported dead in the incident.