The Jakarta Globe, January 3, 2014.
A ferry sank early Friday morning during a crossing of the Alas strait — leaving at least three dead and dozens unaccounted for — while traveling a route from Kayangan port in Lombok to Poto Tano port in West Nusa Tenggara, police said.
“From the data that we could gather, 36 passengers managed to be evacuated while three people were found dead,” Sr. Cmr. I Wayan Supartha, West Nusa Tenggara’s water police director, told Indonesian news portal Liputan6.com.
M. Yasin, Kayangan branch operations manager of state-run ferry company ASDP Indonesia Ferry, said the three confirmed victims, a middle-aged man and two children, were found by members of the Indonesian Search and Rescue (SAR) team.
The boat, called KMP Munawar, departed from Lombok in the early hours of the morning.
“It departed at around 2 a.m. but as we found out it was sinking at 4 a.m., local time,” Yasin told the state-run news agency Antara.
M. Arawana, a volunteer SAR worker, said survivors told him that the ferry had been leaking since it set out.
“Passengers had told the ferry officials about the leakage but got no response,” he said.
At 3:45 a.m., he said, seawater filled the ship, causing fear.
“At 4 a.m., KMP Munawar ferry really sank,” he said. “Fortunately, before it sank to the bottom of the ocean, around 90 percent of the passengers had been saved and were evacuated to the KMP Marina Kuintan, which was passing the location.”
Despite Arawana’s claim that 90 percent of passengers were safe, officials estimated that there may have been between 80 and 160 people on the boat when it sank, which would leave many still unaccounted for.
The rescued survivors have been taken to a community health center in Seteluk, West Sumbawa.
In addition to passengers, the ferry was carrying six trucks, four pickups, eight minibuses and 15 motorcycles, all of which went down with the ship.
SAR team members, military, police, West Nusa Tenggara officials and local volunteers are still searching for missing passengers.
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vr 3 jan 2014 - 9:13