Hopes dim for ship passengers to survive
JAKARTA (JP): Hopes dim for the survival of 480 passengers of the missing Cahaya Bahari ferry although the search has been extended to one more week, a rescue official said on Monday.
"We are now hoping for a miracle, praying that there will be more survivors found," Soleman M. Kakoe, the North Sulawesi chief of National Search and Rescue Agency, told The Jakarta Post by phone Monday night.
Officials said no more survivors or wreckage had been found as the search entered the fifth day since the ship lost contact on Thursday.
"We agreed to extend the search period for one week and evaluate the situation. If there is a significant sign, we may stretch it for another week," Soleman said, adding that four Navy ships continue to search the waters.
The team includes navy battle ships KRI Multatuli, KRI Samadikun, KRI Nusa Utara, passenger ships Oceania II and Oceania III as well as military Nomad airplanes and Cassa aircraft.
On Sunday 11 survivors, aged between 10 and 29, were picked up after three days adrift holding on to life vests and wreckage in shark-infested waters off Lirung island in North Sulawesi. One has since died.
The survivors will arrive in Bitung Port on Tuesday between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Central Indonesia Time (WITA).
"They will be rushed directly to Manado General Hospital. We hope for other survivors to be found ... but theoretically it is impossible for a man to survive the rough seas more than a week," Soleman explained .
"It will depend on the tide and the weather. A person may survive if the tide sends him to shore.
"As for the boat, since it was a wooden-hulled ship, it may not sink completely, but not float either since the waves can reach three to six meters high," he said.
The survivors are identified as Yohana Mastagan, 13, Reni Sopacua, 29, Stenly Ransiaputih, 10, Sansen Matayai, 12, Olvin Bahagia, 16, Reinhard Mailoa, 18, Orfa Matayal, 18, Abel Okona, 14 and Nyonyike Rosiana, 14. Another survivor does not want to be named and the body is unidentified.
The victims confirmed their ferry, packed with 492 passengers and crew, had sunk in high seas one day after they had left the ravaged Tobelo district on Halmahera in North Maluku.
"One survivor, Reni Sopacua, told rescuers that when the ship was going down, fear turned to anger as they realized that there were not enough life jackets for everyone and people started threatening each other with knives," Soleman said.
The accident could be the most disastrous in terms of casualties since the Tampomas II sank off Masalembo northeast of Madura island on Jan. 25 1981. A total of 90 people were killed and 346 others were never found.
In January 1996 an overloaded ferry sank in bad weather off Weh island on the northern tip of Sumatra. Fifty-five bodies were recovered and at least 283 were never found.
Nearly 300 people are presumed dead when the KM Harta Rimba, capsized off the western coast of Borneo in February 1999.
Another vessel carrying refugees fleeing riot-torn Maluku sank off Teluk Ambon on May 30, leaving more than 40 of its passengers dead. (edt)