Dozens missing in recent boat accidents
The Jakarta Post, Lampung/Kupang/Kendari
A cargo ship carrying timber apparently capsized, perhaps a week ago, in the waters off southeastern Sumatra, some 100 kilometers east of Bandarlampung, and was just spotted on Wednesday, but its crew of six remain missing, an official disclosed on Thursday.
At least two other boating mishaps occurred recently in distant corners of the archipelago.
Adj. Sr. Comr. Puthut Prayogi, the chief of the Search and Rescue Team (SAR) in Lampung, said that his team had been looking for the victims since Wednesday when the first sightings of the wreckage were reported by a fisherman, but none had been found as of Thursday afternoon.
The team had been able to locate the wreckage of the 50-foot Indonesia Indah boat, which was not equipped with a radio or other communication devices, off Mundu island, which is part of South Lampung regency, approximately 10 kilometers from where the boat was estimated to have been when it was first pounded by a storm.
Puthut, who is also the director of Air and Water Police Section at the Lampung provincial police, surmised that the accident occurred about a week after the boat departed from Mesuji district, Tulangbawang regency this is not on any maps on its way to Karangantu port in Banten province.
The ill-fated boat was reportedly carrying tons of meranti logs -- a very high quality mahogany-like wood, used chiefly for furniture, plywood and construction -- to Java.
When it was found, the boat was heavily damaged and all its cargo was gone. He said that the SAR team would continue searching for any remains of the crew for at least two or three more days.
Haji Langge, the owner of the boat, said it was loaded with 50 cubic meters of meranti and manned by six crew members. It embarked from Mesuji port in Tulangbawang on June 16.
"Apparently, the boat was hit by a storm, so it capsized," he assumed.
Adi, 45, a local fisherman, acknowledged that he found on Tuesday the severely damaged boat but there was no sign of the crew or the cargo.
He speculated that the boat could have ran into trouble last Friday night when there was a big storm. "Due to the bad weather, all of us local fishermen were prevented from going out to fish that night," he said.
An activist at a non-governmental organization (NGO) Joko Santoso explained that dozens of boats carrying illegal logs sailed everyday in Indonesia's waters, and particularly in the Sunda Strait off southeastern Sumatra where the accident happened.
But, he admitted that he had no way of knowing whether the Indonesia Indah was carrying illegal logs.
Meanwhile, a similar accident also happened in Southeast Sulawesi province. Local authorities in Kendari declared on Thursday that a cargo boat went missing in the waters off Wakatobi regency in the province.
The Katili boat was sailing from Wanci port in Wakatobi regency on Tuesday, but it disappeared on its way to Wawonii island, also in the province. Rocky Asikin, the chief of Search and Rescue Team in Kendari, said that he got the preliminary report from Maila, the owner of the ship. But, Rocky did not know exactly how many people were on board.
Separately, a patrol ship, allegedly an Australian Navy ship, smashed into a fishing boat belonging to Indonesian fishermen, severely damaging the boat.
The collision occurred in the Timor Sea south of Kupang on Tuesday last week, according to Lt. Col. S. S. Asmara, the chief of Navy's Kupang Naval Base on Thursday. No fatalities were reported among the nine crew members aboard. The fishermen believed the ship that hit their boat was an Australian Navy ship as it had a steel hull and an Australian flag on it.