Ferry tragedy

Ferry tragedy

From Media Indonesia

According to the Minister of Transportation's official report to the House of Representatives, the KMP Gurita which sank at the sea between Sabang and Banda Aceh, was not overloaded. The manifest reported that there were only 210 passengers aboard while the capacity of the ferry was 220 and could tolerate an excess of 10 percent of the number.

An investigation proved, by looking at the list of places of residence of the passengers from Sabang, that the number of passengers was much higher than the capacity of the boat. There might have been more than 300 people on board. It also found names of victims not included in the manifest.

These irregularities are endemic on Indonesian ferries. In Merak, for example, ticket purchasers are never listed. Therefore in a disaster it would impossible to identify the victims.

The Ministry of Transportation is responsible for this disaster. The minister of transportation needs to formally rectify his report to the House of the Representatives and give a definite number of casualties, to avoid the impression that the real number of casualties is being hidden.

Set up an independent team to investigate the sinking of KMP Gurita. The team must uncover all the mistakes by individuals, especially of ministry employees. The people responsible for the sinking of KMP Gurita must be removed from their posts, and prosecuted in court for the crime. This is necessary to teach all Transportation Ministry employees and people at other ministries to do their jobs properly, especially when their jobs concern the lives of others.

Preventive action should be taken by supervising all ferries in Indonesia to prevent overloading. The sailing permits should be issued more carefully. The names of all passengers needed to be listed, not difficult to do in the age of computers.

SUHARSONO HADIKUSUMO

Jakarta