Overcrowded ship's o causes a panic

Passengers on the KM Kelud panicked during a stop in Batam, Riau Islands province, on Friday night when they learned the ship, bound from Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta to Medan in North Sumatra, was carrying 6,000 passengers, far more than the maximum 2,600 passengers the craft is officially allowed to carry.

The sale of fake tickets was blamed for the large number of passengers being carried on the ship. The KM Kelud's captain, Nunung Wisnu, however, said the ship would depart for Medan as planned because it was able to take up to five times the officially allowed number of passengers. -- JP