Ship captain drowns

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)