Ship captain drowns

JAKARTA (JP): The captain of a fishing ship, Sarip, 45, drowned some 60 nautical miles from Sunda Kelapa Port in North Jakarta early Wednesday after jumping into the sea to avoid attack by pirates.

Sugeng, a captain of another vessel operating nearby, said yesterday that Sarip's body was found several hours later in the area where the incident occurred.

Sugeng said Sarip woke up sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning to find that seven pirates had boarded the ship and were plundering its navigation equipment, ranging from radio to sonar equipment.

Sarip and his eight crew members were unable to stop the pirates, who were armed with machetes.

"He became terrified and plunged himself into the sea without bringing anything with him," he said.

The pirates later sailed away with stolen goods worth tens of million of rupiah. When the crew found that their captain was missing, they became panicked, Sugeng said, adding that they later asked for help from another fishing vessel.

He said Sarip had been the captain of the ship, Jimmy, for three months.

The victim's body was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Yanto, Sarip's brother-in-law, lamented Sarip's death, who had been a sailor for about 15 years.

"It's his fate and I hope it won't happen to other people in the future," said Yanto.

He said Sarip would be buried in his hometown of Tegal, Central Java. Sarip is survived by his wife Tarsini and six children. (ivy)