Ferry sinks, 50 dead and over 100 missing
Ferry sinks, 50 dead and over 100 missing
JAKARTA (JP): Fifty four people were killed and more than 100 went missing when a ferry with 210 people on board sank in the waters off Aceh on Friday night, officials said yesterday.
The Navy's Search and Rescue team as well as local fishermen were scouring the area for survivors or bodies around the Balohan-Sabang Bay, off the tiny Weh Island, where KPM Gurita sank.
The Navy's rescue team has deployed the KRI Selako warship and the KM Suar for the operation. They found 38 survivors, some of them requiring hospital treatment, by yesterday afternoon.
A platoon of marines have also been sent to dive and look for bodies in the wreck now lying on the seabed, Antara said.
Among those who survived include three foreigners: two Britons and an American. Their identities were not available.
Hariman, an official at Aceh's transportation office in Banda Aceh, told The Jakarta Post last night that, based on the passengers' list, the two Britons were listed only as Steven and Caroline, while the American was listed as Margaret, of Banda Aceh's Save the Children Fund.
Eight other foreigners believed to be missing, the nationalities of whom include German, British and Russian, one official in Sabang said.
The dead and rescued passengers were taken to the Sabang General Hospital and Sabang Navy Hospital.
Meanwhile, hundreds of relatives of the missing people have gathered at the Balohan village, anxiously awaiting news of the search and rescue operation.
Chief of the Sabang Police Precinct Lt. Col. Rahmat Semedik, his wife and two teenage children were believed to be aboard the ferry, but their fate is unknown at this time, according to Antara.
First reports suggested that the Gurita hit a coral reel in the bay before it sank.
The transportation office in Banda Aceh, however, said the ferry had simply ran into bad weather and sank.
The Gurita (Octopus) was sailing from Malahayati and Kruengraya ports in Aceh Besar regency towards Sabang, the main town on the Weh Island.
A strong current at the time was believed to have taken the ferry off its normal course.
The 210 people on board include the ferry's 16 crew members, all listed among those missing.
The ferry was also carrying 13 cars, 19 motorcycles, 80 tons of cement and 14 tons of food to meet the needs of the islanders as they prepare for the Ramadhan fasting month, Antara said.
Abdullah Sulaiman of the Banda Aceh office of the Ministry of Transportation told the news agency that the Gurita set off from the Malahayati/Kruengraya port at 6:40 p.m. for the 18 mile sail to Sabang which normally takes two hours.
The ferry contacted the Malahayati port and reported that it had sailed off course because of strong currents. In its last contact with the port at 8:30 p.m., it reported that it had entered the mouth of the Balohan-Sabang Bay about three to four miles off the Sabang port.
The accident was believed to have occurred half an hour later, Abdullah said.
The Gurita had been plying the route since 1987 and was routinely serviced at the Sabang dockyard. Built in Japan in 1970, the vessel passed its last seaworthiness test, the news agency said. (sim/emb/31)