The 'Gurita' ferry lesson

The 'Gurita' ferry lesson

The sinking of the ferry Gurita happened suddenly and so far the cause remains uncertain. Was it because of a storm? Did it hit a rock, or -- and this is the most important possible cause -- was it because it was overloaded? The Gurita was an old passenger transportation vessel. In the manifest the number of passengers was stated to be 210 but some observers estimated it to have been at least 300.

Passenger transport vessels sinking without their exact number of passengers being known appears to have become common in Indonesia. We may remember the case of the sinking of the Tampomas II off the Masalembo Islands several years ago, or of the ferry Trisila Pratama off Bali and the motor vessel Rani in the waters off southern Morotai not long ago.

Considering that most of Indonesia's territory consists of seas and that the predominant mode of transportation is by boat, it would be advisable for the Ministry of Transportation and related agencies to tighten their control of the seaworthiness of all passenger vessels. It would be most tragic if sea disasters continued to happen frequently merely due to the laxness of inspectors, while the majority of victims are people who are ignorant about the seaworthiness of vessels.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta