Four students killed, five missing as boat capsizes
Four students killed, five missing as boat capsizes
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. Sutrisno
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.