The Jakarta Globe, Aug 01, 2014
Jakarta. One person has died and rescuers are still searching for seven more people missing after a ferry sunk in South Sulawesi, the fourth maritime accident across the archipelago in a week.
The ship sank on Wednesday, but reports from the Selayar Islands in South Sulawesi did not reach the media until Friday.
Adj. Sr. Comr. Moh Hidayat, Selayar Islands Police chief, said that 44 people had been found alive, while seven passengers were still unaccounted for. He was quoted by Indonesian news portal Kompas.com.
Hidayat said the boat capsized and sank near Panjang island, part of the Selayar islands chain. It was on the way from Lambego island to Kayuadi island.
“I was informed that the anchor became stuck in the reef,” Hidayat said.
The incident was the fourth boat accident in less than a week.
On Monday, two people died and two remain missing after a ferry sunk in Nabire district, Papua.
While on Wednesday, a fishing boat sank in Berombang river, Labuhan Batu district, North Sumatra. North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Heru Prakoso told state-run news agency Antara on Thursday night that six more victims had been found, increasing the death toll to 13. Ten of them were children.
Twenty eight people have been found alive, and three — Zainal Akbar, 11, Ilma Malini, 14, and Afni, 17 — are still missing.
Meanwhile, two more victims of the “Berkah Saudara” boat sinking were found on Thursday morning in the Kapuas River in Central Kalimantan.
Seventeen people are now known to have died in the accident, which occurred on Tuesday morning. The victims have been identified as Syahrini, 22, and her toddler son, Gunem.
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vr 1 aug 2014 - 23:27