Five people killed as boat capsizes in Tangerang river

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Four teenagers and an adult were drowned on Tuesday evening when a dinghy they were using to cross Cisadane River in Tangerang capsized and sank.

The accident occurred at around 9 p.m. as nine teenagers and two adults took a shortcut home from a futsal game at a nearby school by crossing Cisadane River -- the largest and longest in Banten province.

The dinghy, which had the capacity to carry five people, was manned by owner Otong, 45, a local resident who used the boat as his transportation means.

Halfway across the river, however, the dinghy began to go under as water seeped in through cracks in its body. The boat then capsized and sank.

Rescuers identified the five casualties as Anggi, 16, Johny, 18, Robby, 19, Sunardi, 22 and Zainal, 16. They were residents of Jl. Batik in Sukajadi subdistrict, Tangerang municipality.

The six who survived have been named as Sumantri, 24, Irfan, 16, Rifan, 16, Herman, 16, Harry, 16 and Darmadji, 16.

A rescue team, assisted by local residents, located the bodies of the five victims, who have been buried in a nearby cemetery.

Sumantri said that on their way to Setia Budi Senior High School in Pasar Lama, Tangerang, the teenagers had walked over Putra Bridge, near the Pendopo building, the official residence of the Tangerang regent.

"When we had finished playing futsal we decided to rent a boat to go home as it was already late," he said.

They rented the old dinghy from Otong.

"I already told the teenagers that the boat leaked but they insisted on me rowing them across," he said, adding that rowing the boat had been hard as there were too many passengers.

Sumantri said the 11 passengers had panicked when the boat capsized. Six of them made it to the riverbank, while the other five were unable to fight the strong current of the river, the origin of which is in Bogor, West Java.

Local residents had informed the Tangerang municipal rescue team of the accident.

The team, using two rubber dinghies and led by Bayu Harris, were assisted by locals in two canoes in the search for the teenagers.

Bayu said the team found the body of Anggi at 11 p.m., and then Robby at 11:40, Johny at midnight, Sunardi at 1:30 and Zainal at 1:50 not far from the place where the boat capsized.

He said the bodies of the victims were taken to Tangerang General hospital morgue early on Wednesday.