Search for victims ends in Sulawesi ferry sinking

UJUNGPANDANG, S. Sulawesi (JP): Police called off the search for victims of Sunday's ferry accident in Pangkep regency yesterday because there were no new reports of missing people.

But Pangkep's police chief, Lt. Col. Haryogo, said an emergency post had been set up near the accident site.

The Sumber Jaya ferry, believed to have been carrying twice as many passengers as its capacity, sunk in the small town of Pangkep, 60 kilometers north of here.

Police said yesterday nine people died in the accident, not 13 as earlier reported.

They said the first casualty estimates were based on the inaccurate reports by local hospital clerks Sunday.

Haryogo said police had detained the Sumber Jaya's captain, Muhammad Arifin.

He will be charged under Article 359 of Criminal Code for negligence causing people to die.

If found guilty he faces a maximum five years jail.

He did not say anything about the people who were reportedly still missing.

The ship's capacity was 25 passengers but it was carrying about 60 people.

Eleven people with injuries were found.

The chief of the Biringkassi Port in Pangkep said the port could not be held accountable for the accident because the ferry was sailing without a license.

"The accident was definitely not our responsibility. As far as we know, it didn't have any sailing documents," Zainuddin said.

The chief of the government's ferry transportation authority in Pangkep, Hasan Muhiddin, said that because the ship was not licensed the accident was the captain's responsibility.

The South Sulawesi transportation office has set up a fact- finding team to investigate the accident.

"All vessels have been instructed to help look for the missing passengers," the office's M.A. Mappagiling was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

The team is expected to question the seaworthiness of the ferry, its safety equipment, and the discipline of officials supervising the ferries. (31/aan)