Tour boat survivors drank urine, swam to volcano island
Print Edition
Thirteen people lost at sea for two days when their boat sank in Indonesia were rescued yesterday after a horrific ordeal that had forced them to swim to a volcanic island and drink their own urine.
Two Spanish men were still missing after the boat sank on Saturday as it made the long voyage from Lombok Island to Komodo Island, a popular tourist destination.
The vessel went down slowly, breaking up into pieces, close to tiny Sangeang Island after running into a reef and being hit by a storm. But there was no communications equipment on board to radio for help. A first group of 10 foreigners including Britons, Germans and Italians was rescued on Sunday.
A French survivor told how they perched on the roof of the boat for hours as it sank, and eventually decided to swim to an island on the horizon, even though a volcano on it was emitting smoke at the time.
The French said it took six hours to swim to the island, but they had no choice as the vessel’s single lifeboat only had room for a handful of people.
“The others climbed onto the roof of the boat, which had not completely sunk,” he said. “We were 5km from the coast — there were many big waves separating us from the coast.
“People started to panic. Everyone took the decision to swim to the closest island, where there was an erupting volcano.”
After finally reaching the island, they found it deserted, and there was no fresh drinking water or food.
Dehydrated, exhausted and sunburnt, they resorted to drinking their own urine and eating leaves until they were rescued by a passing boat the next day.
They were taken to nearby Sumbawa, where they received medical treatment.
The second group rescued yesterday was made up of eight foreigners, four Indonesian crew and an Indonesian tour guide.
Several were in the lifeboat when the vessel went down while others put on life jackets and swam alongside.
Dutchman Jan van Ommen said they were in the water for about 40 hours, and took it in turns to spend stints either in the lifeboat or floating in the water wearing the life jackets.
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