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Search resumes for ferry survivors
Source: Agencies |
January 14, 2009, Wednesday
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A RESCUE team guided by a survivor was dispatched into stormy Indonesian seas yesterday in search of dozens of people said to be still drifting alive after a ferry capsized with more than 250 people on board, officials said.
The survivor, pulled from the water by fishermen early yesterday, said another 40 people escaped the boat before it sank in a cyclone and were still at sea.
Air and sea patrols resumed at sunrise, two days after the 700-ton Teratai Prima disappeared with at least 250 passengers and 17 crew onboard.
So far, at least 34 people, including the captain, have been rescued and one body recovered. Hopes had been fading that anyone else would be rescued because of continuing bad weather caused by Cyclone Charlotte.
But a search party was deployed on a police boat with the latest survivor and fishermen acting as guides, said Sutriani, a port official in Majene, Sulawesi. A group of around 40 men is clinging to a floating platform used by fishermen, a rescue coordinator in Majene, citing accounts given by fishermen, said.
"We have to rescue them immediately," he said. "We have taken the fishermen to show us the way."
Transport Minister Jusman Syafi'i Djamal said an investigation was under way to determine why the captain apparently ignored warnings not to travel into the Makassar Strait.
Most of those rescued so far were picked up by fishing and cargo ships within hours of the sinking and taken to nearby ports. They told of a churning sea and relentless waves before the ferry suddenly submerged in the dark.
Baco, a passenger, was fast asleep in the ship's lower deck when sea water rushed in and swept away about 20 children within seconds as he looked on helplessly.
"They were just sucked away," he said, sobbing as he recalled how the boat suddenly capsized before dawn on Sunday. Baco, a father of five, was taking the ferry to Borneo to look for a job with an oil company.
"Around 20 little children were taken by the sea. I could do nothing," said the 40-year-old, weeping as he described the screams of the drowning.
The government is to compensate families US$2,400, roughly two times the average annual salary in impoverished Indonesia, for each victim of the accident.
The survivor, pulled from the water by fishermen early yesterday, said another 40 people escaped the boat before it sank in a cyclone and were still at sea.
Air and sea patrols resumed at sunrise, two days after the 700-ton Teratai Prima disappeared with at least 250 passengers and 17 crew onboard.
So far, at least 34 people, including the captain, have been rescued and one body recovered. Hopes had been fading that anyone else would be rescued because of continuing bad weather caused by Cyclone Charlotte.
But a search party was deployed on a police boat with the latest survivor and fishermen acting as guides, said Sutriani, a port official in Majene, Sulawesi. A group of around 40 men is clinging to a floating platform used by fishermen, a rescue coordinator in Majene, citing accounts given by fishermen, said.
"We have to rescue them immediately," he said. "We have taken the fishermen to show us the way."
Transport Minister Jusman Syafi'i Djamal said an investigation was under way to determine why the captain apparently ignored warnings not to travel into the Makassar Strait.
Most of those rescued so far were picked up by fishing and cargo ships within hours of the sinking and taken to nearby ports. They told of a churning sea and relentless waves before the ferry suddenly submerged in the dark.
Baco, a passenger, was fast asleep in the ship's lower deck when sea water rushed in and swept away about 20 children within seconds as he looked on helplessly.
"They were just sucked away," he said, sobbing as he recalled how the boat suddenly capsized before dawn on Sunday. Baco, a father of five, was taking the ferry to Borneo to look for a job with an oil company.
"Around 20 little children were taken by the sea. I could do nothing," said the 40-year-old, weeping as he described the screams of the drowning.
The government is to compensate families US$2,400, roughly two times the average annual salary in impoverished Indonesia, for each victim of the accident.
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