Five Philippine vessels seized

Five Philippine vessels seized

JAKARTA: Five Philippine vessels have been seized and some 30
crew members arrested by officers of the Eastern Indonesia Naval
Fleet Command off North Sulawesi for illegal fishing, the
Indonesian Navy said in a statement on Thursday.

The five vessels -- the Elnino, Treanity TS-858 and three
motor boats -- were loaded with fish when they were detained by
the Navy last weekend.

All the vessels and crew members are now being detained at the
Navy's North Sulawesi base in Bitung pending prosecution.

Separately, a Navy helicopter detected the location of the
Harapan Express ferry which sank on Wednesday in the Malinau
river in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on its way from Tarakan in
East Kalimantan to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.

A Search and Rescue team reported that five passengers were
found dead, 17 others were rescued and nine others were still
missing.--JP