More passengers rescued, 51 feared dead after sinking

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi (JP): Fishermen rescued five more passengers from the KM Restu Illahi, which sank on May 27, who had miraculously survived after floating in the water for eight days.

The latest rescues increase the number of survivors to 42, but does little to increase hope for the survival of the 51 passengers who are still missing, especially as no concerted rescue effort has been launched since the tragedy struck over a week ago.

"The five passengers were rescued by fishermen in the waters off Pakbusuang, Polmas regency," Majene port administrator Albar Yahya told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Albar did not identified the five survivors, saying only that their condition was "deteriorating" due to the ordeal they had experienced over the past week.

The four-ton ship, plying the Majene to Kotabaru (South Kalimantan) route, was carrying 84 passengers and nine crew members.

The ship sank off Majene, some 300 kilometers south of the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar. Most of the passengers were interisland traders who were traveling along with their merchandise, such as coconuts and rice.

The vessel left Palipi port on May 26 and sank the next night after reportedly been dashed by floating logs during a storm in Makassar bay.

Despite the rescue of the five survivors, locals were pessimistic about the fate of the other 51 missing passengers and crew.

Fishermen in Majene said their chances of survival were fast fading as Tuesday would be the ninth day that they would have had to survive in the water under atrocious weather conditions.

"It would be very hard to stay alive under such conditions," Albar remarked.

The hope of further survivors has also been dimmed by the fact that no search and rescue team has been dispatched to conduct a credible search effort since the ship foundered.

Only limited search efforts have been undertaken by the local port administration and fishermen who happened to be in the vicinity of where the ship went down.

"We'll keep on monitoring and communicating via radio with fishermen passing through the sector," Albar said.

Damage

Separately, a duty staff officer of the Makassar Search and Rescue team, Ali Staf, said that the team could not be dispatched as much of its equipment was damaged.

He failed to elaborate further, however.

According to Ali, the rescue team was waiting for the Indonesian Navy to go to the scene of the disaster.

However, the Navy reportedly postponed launching a search operation as they had not been issued orders by Eastern Fleet Command.

Commenting on the poor state of the local rescue team, port administrator Albar remarked that he could only call on those who were touched by the tragedy to help out with the search for survivors.

"May God have mercy on the remaining 51 people," Albar said. (27/emf)