Horror at sea for 250 seeking a new life
Source: Agencies |
December 19, 2011, Monday
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RESCUERS battled high waves yesterday as they searched for 200 asylum seekers missing and feared dead after their overcrowded ship sank off Indonesia's main island of Java.
So far only 33 people have been plucked alive from the choppy waters. Two were children, aged 8 and 10, found clinging to the broken debris of the boat five hours after the accident on Saturday.
"It's really a miracle they made it," said Kelik Enggar Purwanto, a member of the search and rescue team, as horrifying accounts emerged of the disaster.
Nearly 250 people fleeing economic and political hardship in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey were trying to reach Australia in search of a better life when they ran into a powerful storm 32 kilometers off Java's southern coast.
After being slammed by a 3-meter wave, the fiberglass ship - carrying more than twice its capacity - broke apart, disappearing tail first into the dark waters.
Soon after, 25-year-old local fisherman Jambe spotted several dark dots from his tiny wooden fishing vessel and decided to investigate.
He and his three crew were horrified at what they found: more than 100 hysterical and exhausted people clinging to anything that floated.
Survivors immediately started racing toward them.
"They were all fighting, scrambling to get into my boat," Jambe said, adding there was only room for 10.
In the end he managed to get 25 on board, many of them injured and all begging for water.
Those left behind were screaming and crying.
"I'm so sad ... I feel so guilty, but there were just too many of them," Jambe said. "I was worried if we took any more we'd sink, too."
Khadzim Huzen, a 30-year-old Afghani, said that after the wave hit, the ship started tipping into the water, and everyone rushed to the front.
A fight broke out for life jackets. There were only 25, he said, and nine had been taken by the crew.
"In the end, as everything was being swallowed up by the water, we just grabbed hold of anything we could. We formed small groups in the water and tried to help each other stay afloat," he said.
Indonesia, a nation of 240 million people, has more than 18,000 islands and thousands of kilometers of coastline, making it a key transit point for smuggling migrants.
So far only 33 people have been plucked alive from the choppy waters. Two were children, aged 8 and 10, found clinging to the broken debris of the boat five hours after the accident on Saturday.
"It's really a miracle they made it," said Kelik Enggar Purwanto, a member of the search and rescue team, as horrifying accounts emerged of the disaster.
Nearly 250 people fleeing economic and political hardship in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey were trying to reach Australia in search of a better life when they ran into a powerful storm 32 kilometers off Java's southern coast.
After being slammed by a 3-meter wave, the fiberglass ship - carrying more than twice its capacity - broke apart, disappearing tail first into the dark waters.
Soon after, 25-year-old local fisherman Jambe spotted several dark dots from his tiny wooden fishing vessel and decided to investigate.
He and his three crew were horrified at what they found: more than 100 hysterical and exhausted people clinging to anything that floated.
Survivors immediately started racing toward them.
"They were all fighting, scrambling to get into my boat," Jambe said, adding there was only room for 10.
In the end he managed to get 25 on board, many of them injured and all begging for water.
Those left behind were screaming and crying.
"I'm so sad ... I feel so guilty, but there were just too many of them," Jambe said. "I was worried if we took any more we'd sink, too."
Khadzim Huzen, a 30-year-old Afghani, said that after the wave hit, the ship started tipping into the water, and everyone rushed to the front.
A fight broke out for life jackets. There were only 25, he said, and nine had been taken by the crew.
"In the end, as everything was being swallowed up by the water, we just grabbed hold of anything we could. We formed small groups in the water and tried to help each other stay afloat," he said.
Indonesia, a nation of 240 million people, has more than 18,000 islands and thousands of kilometers of coastline, making it a key transit point for smuggling migrants.
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