Tourists flock to see beached barge

Tourists flock to see beached barge

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

It took Mirza and her family three hours to reach Puge Blang Cut
village in Banda Aceh, but they went anyway.

They traveled from Sigli in the Pidie district for one reason,
to see with their own eyes a stranded ship, the PLTD Apung 1,
which was swept inland by the giant waves when the tsunami hit
Aceh on Dec. 26 last year.

Owned by state electricity company PT PLN, the ship now sits
in the center of the residential area.

"My parents took me here. We did plan to come to Banda Aceh to
see how the town was after the disaster and I was told that there
was a stranded ship. When I finally saw it, I was shocked. How
could such a big ship get here," asked 17-year-old Mirza,
pointing to the 3,600 ton vessel.

As if visiting a tourist site, Mirza, her sister and parents,
posed for a picture with the ship in the background.

The family was not alone in their "tour" of the tsunami-hit
city -- a group of 10 women also from Pidie were also seen at the
site.

"We came just to see whether it was true a big ship was
stranded right in the city center because of the tsunami," said
one of the woman, Aminah.

These women came to Banda Aceh by public bus and reached the
village by pick-up van.

"We want to see how Banda Aceh is now," Aminah said.

Several buildings around the area were still left standing,
but many more have been flattened.

Mursalin, operator of the ship's diesel machinery, said that
since the roads around the stranded ship were cleared, many
residents came by to take a closer look. They included people
from nearby regions.

He said the ship should actually be anchored off Ulee Lheue,
some 3 kilometers from its present position. The ship served as a
diesel-generated electricity power plant with production capacity
of 10.5 Megawatts for Banda Aceh and its surrounding area.

"I'm a little bit worried about the many people smoking
(around the ship) because the diesel fuel tank is leaking. If we
tell them not to smoke around the ship they get angry. Maybe they
don't realize that this could cause an explosion," Mursalin said.

The boat, which began service in Aceh in mid-2003, was made in
1997 by Tongkang Mas Jaya, a Batam shipyard.

"At the time of the disaster, the ship was working as usual,
with 17 working officers. Only six of them survived. After the
disaster, the machine is still working," Mursalin said.

He said the stranded ship caused controversy between the Aceh
government, which wanted to keep it in its present location as a
monument of the tsunami, and the electricity company.

"PLN wanted the ship to be put back in the sea so it could
generate electricity... but I don't know which decision will be
taken," Mursalin said.

Now, Mursalin's job is not to monitor the ship's machinery as
he used to but to guide visitors who want to look at the ship.

"There are more and more people coming in, especially on
weekends. If the ship will be moved back to the sea, I don't know
how they will do it."