The Jakarta Post, Batam, Sun, March 15 2015
The Indonesian Navy has rescued 11 passengers and eight crew members stranded at sea after their ship sunk in Tanjung Todang waters near Bintan, Riau. on Sunday.
The Indonesian Navy's western armada sea security group commander, Cmdr. Abdul Rasyid Kacong, said four Navy ships had been used in the rescue operation.
Abdul said crew reported the discovery of a leak at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday after noticing the ship was taking water. "I commanded the Navy warships nearby to do a search-and-rescue operation," he told The Jakarta Post during the evacuation at Batu Ampar Seaport.
The victims, he said, were spotted on lifeboats by the KRI Siribua and KRI Kala Hitam warships at 2:00 a.m.
"We will question the crew and the passengers at Batam Navy base about what went wrong and why an unsafe wooden ship was used, " he said.
The 11 coral reef experts included an American, Mark Erdmann, and three Australians; Emre Turak, Gerald Allen and Lyndon Devantier. The Indonesian coral reef experts on board were Kunto Wibowo and Riski from the Indonesian Research Institute (LIPI); Juanda Ilham and Jupri from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and three NGO activists -- Dewi Anggraini, Asril Junaidi and Andreas Muljadi.
According to Erdmann, the leak was discovered about four hours after the ship set sail toward the Anambas Sea. The water pump reportedly malfunctioned, leading to the ship's sinking. "We were on a mission to research the biodiversity of coral reefs in Natuna and Anambas seas, in cooperation with LIPI," Erdmann said
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zo 15 maa 2015 - 8:33