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JAKARTA: Sebuah feri dari Batam ke Pekanbaru di Riau yang membawa lebih 200 penumpang karam dipercayai disebabkan cuaca buruk, pagi tadi.
Feri Dumai Express berkenaan dilaporkan karam jam 10 pagi waktu tempatan (0300 GMT) di Pulau Karimun, berhampiran Singapura.
“Feri berkenaan membawa 213 penumpang dan 13 anak kapal termasuk kaptennya.
“Ketika ini, ramai yang masih terapung di laut dan kami berusaha secepat mungkin untuk menyelamatkan mereka,” kata Ketua Pengarah Pengangkutan Laut Indonedia, Sunaryo, di sini.
Katanya, feri berkenaan karam disebabkan hujan lebat dan ombak besar yang mengukarkannya belayar.
“Saya tidak pasti berapa ramai yang masih hilang. Bot nelayan yang menyertai operasi menyelamat setakat ini sudah menyelamatkan 15 penumpang,” katanya.
Sunaryo bagaimanapun berkata, feri berkenaan tidak membawa muatan yang berlebihan. – AFP
source:berita harian (malaysia)
Nov 23, 2009
JAKARTA – RESCUERS saved more than 240 people aboard a crowded Indonesian passenger ferry that sank in rough waters off Sumatra island, but 29 people died and at least 17 others were missing, officials said.
The Dumai Express 10 sank on Sunday in stormy weather about 90min into an inter-island trip from Batam to Dumai in Riau, a province off Sumatra island in western Indonesia. A second ferry ran aground nearby, but all its passengers were said to be safe.
The striken ferry went down about 30min after huge waves damaged its bow and water started seeping in, according to a report from the ship’s captain, said Lt Col Edwin, the local navy chief.
Rescue teams found 29 bodies, including those of two children, according to the latest reports, said Rustam Pakaya, the head of the Health Ministry’s crisis center. He said at least 17 others were believed to be missing. Some 245 survivors were rescued.
Police and navy officials said the ferry manifest listed 228 passengers, including 15 children, and in addition, there were 13 crew, but the number of people accounted for has already surpassed that.
The ship had a capacity of 273, but it is not uncommon for ferries to be overloaded. — AP
source:straitstimes (singapore)
Nov 23, 2009
TANJUNG BALAI (Indonesia) – A FERRY which sank in Indonesian waters on the weekend killing 29 people was overloaded and its life boats were leaking, a survivor claimed on Monday.
High-school teacher Amir Azli, 56, described scenes of pandemonium on board the Dumai Express as water started to pour through cracks in its hull and it rocked violently in the heavy swells.
‘The skies were clear and the seas were calm when we set sail but the weather turned bad on the way. There was a heavy downpour and huge waves and the ferry was rocking from side to side so vigorously,’ he told AFP. ‘Children were wailing and women, men, old people all panicked. Many people were crying and vomiting. Some people were so seasick they fainted… even the men. We were all so scared and stressed.’
The passenger confirmed the captain’s claims that the vessel had sailed into an unexpected storm shortly after leaving Batam island bound for Sumatra on Sunday, but he blamed overcrowding for many of the deaths. ‘The ferry was overloaded. My estimate is there were more than 350 people on the boat,’ he said as he recovered in Tanjung Balai on Karimun island near Singapore.
The captain praised his crew and said the accident was the result of a freak storm, not overcrowding. Maritime officials however said there were ‘indications’ of overcrowding and the accident was under investigation.
‘I saw at least 50 people without tickets sitting on the top deck of the ferry. If they had tickets, they should have been in the ferry and not sitting outside,’ said Mr Azli, who made it onto one of four lifeboats. — AFP
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