Four drown, 2 missing as boat sinks in Ancol

JAKARTA (JP): At least four men drowned and two others went missing after a boat transporting dozens of soccer players and supporters capsized on the Ancol canal in North Jakarta yesterday.

The four victims, identified as Aceng, 24, Seminta, 32, Herman, 16, and Wawan, 15, were residents of Jl. Samudra in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

Police and a team from the Marine corps were still searching late yesterday for two others, identified as Bowo and Herman Yunus. It is believed they had also drowned in the canal, a relative said.

Rachman, Aceng's brother, quoted witnesses as saying that Aceng and other residents of Jl. Samudra were playing soccer at about 8 a.m. when they became involved in a quarrel with security guards working for Ancol Dreamland.

The soccer field used to be linked by bridge to the cityside of the land, but is now reachable only by a rope-drawn boat or by going through Ancol.

He said the quarrel erupted after one of Ancol Dreamland's security guards failed to make the soccer players pay for the use of the field.

When they refused to pay the guard he ordered them to immediately leave the field, he said.

He said some of the soccer players fought with the guard.

The guard managed to escape them but later returned with other security guards and dozens of construction workers from a nearby site, Rachman said.

They, assisted by cigarette traders who were also angry with the players after a similar quarrel, chased the players. One of the traders reportedly hit some of the players with a whip made from a stingray tail.

The soccer players fled in panic and boarded the boat to cross the river, he said.

Rachman said the security guards, the construction workers and the traders continued throwing stones at the people aboard the boat.

The boat possibly swung and overturned because it was overloaded and due to the erratic movement of passengers who tried to avoid flying stones, he said.

Even though the boat capsized the guards and their friends continued throwing stones at the players, who were swimming in panic, he said.

It is believed one of the security guards untied the rope connecting the boat to land, causing the boatman to lose control of the boat, he said.

Police officers immediately went to the scene to calm the brawlers, he said.

Two of the four victims were believed to be trapped in mud on the bottom of the two-meter-deep canal, Rachman said.

The four dead were sent to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's morgue for postmortem examinations.

Three men, including security guard Salehan, were questioned at the Tanjung Priok Police subprecinct, a police officer said.

The officer, who asked for anonymity, said the police were still looking for the cigarette trader who whipped the soccer players.

Dozens of relatives of the victims visited the bodies at the morgue yesterday.

"I still tremble when I remember my grandchild Wawan," a relative said.

One victim, Seminta, is survived by his wife and two children, he said. (jun)