Four people killed in Kendari boat accident

Four people killed in Kendari boat accident

Hasrul, The Jakarta Post, Kendari

Four people were killed after a boat, Tangko Mbuno, sank in
Wawonii waters, Konawe regency in the province of Southeast
Sulawesi at dawn on Monday. The four victims were passengers
Rumani, 50, Waadi, 9 and Hadiati, 18, as well as a one-year-old
infant.

Chief of Kendari Search and Rescue Team, Rocky Ashikin, said
on Tuesday that another 56 passengers had been rescued although
some were still being treated at local hospitals.

The boat departed on Sunday noon from Larianta subdistrict,
but on its way to Labeau subdistrict, some 16 kilometers from
Larianta subdistrict, the boat sank. Most of passengers in the
boat were Larianta residents who were on their way to a soccer
match in the neighboring subdistrict of Labeau.

Jumhar, an eyewitness, recalled that the boat was caught in
bad weather. When it was cruising through the water, suddenly a a
three-meter-high wave hit the boat, tilting it, causing it to
capsize and slowly sink.

"When the boat was sinking, the passengers jumped out of the
boat while others scrambled to get out of the sinking boat and
swam ashore," he said.

The boat accident was the second this month. On July 3, the
Diana Express also sank in the area, but all 12 crew members were
rescued by the search and rescue team.

Separately, AFP reported that foul weather has hindered
efforts to salvage a ferry that sank off the eastern Indonesian
province of Papua last week with as many as 200 people believed
to be trapped inside, a rescue official said on Tuesday.

"We are continuing efforts to overturn the ship today (Monday)
as bad weather had hindered our efforts," said Sumpeno Juwono, a
search and rescue official from Merauke district.

He said that a fishing boat found one body near the site of
the accident on Monday, the only victim discovered so far.
Fifteen people, including two crew members, were rescued.

The state-run Digul ferry, linking Merauke in the southeastern
part of Papua to Tanah Merah further inland, was engulfed by
waves on Thursday.

The vessel's manifest showed 35 passengers and a crew of 13
when the ship left the port of Merauke some 3,740 kilometers
(2,380 miles) east of Jakarta, but survivors said the number on
board was between 100 and 200.

Rescue teams and local authorities believe most of the
passengers may have been trapped inside the boat, and Juwono on
Monday said there was little hope of finding more survivors.

The wreck was found overturned around 15 metres underwater
some 15 nautical miles off the coast.

Four vessels have been in the area since Monday to take part
in the operation to overturn the wreck and search for bodies.

The ferry was transporting two bulldozers and hundreds of
sacks of cement as well as the passengers. The manifest showed
that some of the passengers were schoolchildren.

Indonesia is one of the world's largest archipelagoes and
relies heavily on marine and river transportation, especially in
the less developed islands in eastern Indonesia.

Ferry accidents are common because of weak safety enforcement
measures and frequent overcrowding on vessels due to the lack of
other transportation to some remote regions.