Four drown, 2 missing as boat sinks in Ancol

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)