Four killed in W. Sumatra boat accident

Kasparman, The Jakarta Post, Padang, West Sumatra

At least four students were killed and five others were still missing and feared dead after a Sunday morning boating accident in a rain-swollen river near Padang, West Sumatra, officials and residents said.

Three other people survived the accident that occurred as a fishing boat carrying the 12 victims, all students from a nursing academy, capsized in the Muara Anai river.

The tragedy occurred around 7:30 a.m. but as of Sunday evening, rescuers had not yet found the five missing students.

The group had hired the boat from local fisherman Ujang, 35, for recreation along the river, located near the Lubuk Buaya estuary in Central Koto subdistrict, villagers said.

But after cruising around for about 30 minutes, the boat capsized amid strong currents and unexpected rapids in the four- meter deep river, they added. The victims reportedly planned to go the nearby White Sand Beach resort.

"They (the students) had no experience with boats, so they could not control it when hit by the turbulence," Capt. Surisno Abubakar of the Padang military command, a rescue member, told journalists.

The fatalities were identified as Tri Yuliana, Yefri Nelli, Ibrahim and Mimi Suspita, all 21. Their bodies were found floating by rescuers at around 7:45 a.m. in a location some one kilometer from where they boarded the boat.

The four bodies were taken to the M. Djamil General Hospital in Padang for an autopsy.

Their five missing colleagues were identified as Alex Suherwadi, 24, Zulmi Hendra, 21, Desi Lusiawati, 22, Junaidah Kada, 20, and Een, 18, while the three others rescued alive were Roskian, 24, Aria Anwar, 21 and Silvia Sandra, 21.

The survivors are being treated at the M. Djamil hospital.

Sutrisno said the rescuers combed the river in search of the five missing, but faced difficulties as the river was swollen with recent rainwater and runoff from upland areas in North Sumatra.

The murky waters and riverbank mangrove forest also hampered the rescue efforts involving 20 personnel from the water and air unit from Bungus Teluk Kabung, 10 from the Padang district military command, 15 from a local fire team and 15 from the national search and rescue agency, he added.

"But we will continue to look for the missing victims until an order is issued to halt it," Sutrisno said.

Local authorities were probing the cause of the accident. However, it was believed that the small boat was overloaded and none of the students was wearing a life jacket. It was not clear what the maximum capacity of the boat was.