Ships collide, four killed

JAKARTA (JP): Four people died when the Indonesian ship KM Sinabung collided at dawn yesterday with the Panama tanker MT World Nord in the Strait of Malacca, some 80 nautical miles from Dumai port in Riau, Antara said.

Sinabung was en route from Belawan, Medan, North Sumatra, to Tanjung Priok, Jakarta. The tanker was sailing from Singapore to Spain.

According to the state shipping company PT Pelni's spokesman, Sudarsono, the four victims were crushed in the parts of the two ships that collided.

A PT Pelni operational department official, Ismail, said the bodies were evacuated to Morong yesterday afternoon by a team dispatched from Dumai. Another 1,348 passengers aboard the Sinabung continued their trip to Tanjung Priok because the ship could still sail normally, he said.