Megawati to donate rescue boat

Megawati to donate rescue boat

DENPASAR, Bali: President Megawati Soekarnoputri is slated to
give a 22-meter rescue boat to the Bali search and rescue (SAR)
team in order to help the body to perform its daily tasks.

"The proposed donation was conveyed recently by Minister of
Communications Agum Gumelar," said chairman of SAR Bali I Ketut
Parwa.

The boat will be handed over by the government to the SAR body
in December this year.

Parwa did not provide details on the boat, simply that it was
sophisticated. He said that five members of SAR Bali would be
dispatched immediately to Jakarta, to learn how to operate it.

Parwa said that Megawati promised the boat after she learned
that the SAR team had limited equipment for rescuing people who
went missing in Bali waters.

He said Megawati was impressed when the SAR team rescued one
of two participants of the jet ski world championship event Bali
International Offshore 2002 who went missing during the function
in January last year, despite limited equipment.

The SAR team had no dedicated boat for search and rescue
purposes. -- Antara