Rescue search yields five more bodies from ferry disaster
Rescue search yields five more bodies from ferry disaster
JAKARTA (JP): The Search and Rescue team has found the bodies
of five more victims from the Kaltimas II ferry, which sank with
over 70 passengers off the coast of Bali on Tuesday night,
bringing the death toll to 15.
The team, comprising 200 rescuers from the Indonesian Navy,
volunteers and local fishermen, has found 40 of the passengers,
including the total of 15 deceased victims, in the coastal areas
of Pengambengan, Muncar and Banyuwangi, in East Java, as well as
in Pebuahan, Bali.
It has also managed to identify six of the bodies, including
that of the captain of the boat, Sunaryo, 50.
The team, using seven ships, will continue the search until
next week, a spokesman said.
Official data indicate the ferry, which went down in storm-
stricken seas between Ketapang in East Java and Gilimanuk, 125
kilometers west of Denpasar, carried 62 passengers.
Made Sudhiarta, the Gilimanuk port spokesman, said the actual
figure could have been 80 because of the possibility of illegal
passengers being on the boat.
Meanwhile, the owner of the ferry, Sartono, said the boat was
not overloaded when it sank. At its maximum capacity it could
carry 12 big trucks, the Antara news agency reported him as
saying.
The vessel was only carrying six trucks, two containers and a
Jawa Baru fleet bus with 32 passengers at that time.
Sartono issued the statement in response to allegations that
the accident occurred because of negligence. The head of Bali's
transportation office earlier said the ferry was months overdue
for routine maintenance.
Sartono said the 275 gross-ton vessel of the Landing Craft
Tank type was powered by two (165 PK) engines. He emphasized that
the ship went down in a storm.
The vessel made a distress call to the port at 9:30 p.m. local
time. The crew said the ferry was swamped with water from high
waves.
Officers immediately launched a rescue operation but were
hampered by the rough seas.
Head of the rescue team, Lt. Col. Rasidi, said the boat
appeared to have drifted five miles into the southern area of
Gilimanuk before it sank.
"It might have drifted even further, up to 10 miles away from
the place it sank," he said, adding that the missing passengers
might have been carried out into the Indian Ocean.
The suspected site of the shipwrecked boat is 40 to 60 meters
under the surface of the sea in an area where the waves are
around four meters high, Rasidi said.
The loss of the ferry has caused a back-up of vehicles at both
the Ketapang and Gilimanuk ports.
Antara reported yesterday that up to two-kilometer long lines
of trucks were jamming the ports because priority was being given
to buses and privately owned cars.
Of the 14 ferries serving the crowded route, only eight are
now running, spokesman Sudhiarta said.
He said three of the vessels have joined the Navy in the
search for survivors, while the others are being repaired.
Ferries are the cheapest and most popular form of
transportation linking Java and Bali, as well as many other
islands. (prs)