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)