Huge waves and driving rain hindered rescuers yesterday as they searched for about 250 people missing and feared dead after a ferry packed with passengers and cargo capsized in a cyclone off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.
Many passengers were sleeping when the 700 tonne Teratai Prima was struck by tropical cyclone Charlotte before dawn on Sunday while traveling from the western port of Parepare to Samarinda on the Indonesian half of Borneo island, officials and witnesses said. It sank about 50km off the coast of western Sulawesi.
“People were screaming, ‘Help, help!,’” said survivor Sampara Daeng Gassing, 35, who clung to a tire for two hours in the pounding storm but lost his 9-year-old son and father-in-law in the disaster.
“I lost hold of my son and my father-in-law when a big wave hit me,” Gassing said, weeping.
Gassing, who arrived with other survivors in the port of Parepare yesterday, said the ferry had been slammed by 4m waves and that he awoke about 10 minutes before it went down.
The captain — who also survived — was being investigated for allegedly ignoring warnings from the Indonesian weather agency that conditions on the crossing were too dangerous, Transport Minister Jusman Syafi’i Djamal said.
At least 21 people — 18 passengers and three crew members — were rescued from the sea by fishermen before the military launched a search operation at daybreak yesterday, Djamal told reporters in Jakarta.
The rest of the people aboard were missing and feared dead, Djamal said.
About 250 passengers and 17 crew were believed aboard the ship originally, Djamal said.
However, passenger lists for such ferries in Indonesia are typically inaccurate, with tickets frequently sold on board without being properly tallied.
He said about 150 people jumped from the ship before it sank, and that their fate was unknown.
Three warships, an airplane and a helicopter searched waters off Sulawesi’s west coast, but were hampered by driving rain, strong winds and waves of up to 4m, said Colonel Jaka Santosa, who was heading the rescue operation.
The ferry, carrying about 18 tonnes of cargo, radioed that it was “hit by a storm” before it went down, said Nurwahida, a port official. He goes by one name, as is common in Indonesia.
Boats are a major form of transportation in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and a population of 235 million. Poor enforcement of safety regulations and overcrowding causes accidents that claim hundreds of lives each year.
In December 2006, a crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm, killing more than 400 people.
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
‘NO COUNTRY BUMPKIN’: The judge rejected arguments that former prime minister Najib Razak was an unwitting victim, saying Najib took steps to protect his position Imprisoned former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was yesterday convicted, following a corruption trial tied to multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund. The nation’s high court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than US$700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund. Najib denied any wrongdoing, and maintained the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he had been misled by rogue financiers led by businessman Low Taek Jho. Low, thought to be the scandal’s mastermind, remains
Near the entrance to the Panama Canal, a monument to China’s contributions to the interoceanic waterway was torn down on Saturday night by order of local authorities. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has made threats in the past few months to retake control of the canal, claiming Beijing has too much influence in its operations. In a surprising move that has been criticized by leaders in Panama and China, the mayor’s office of the locality of Arraijan ordered the demolition of the monument built in 2004 to symbolize friendship between the countries. The mayor’s office said in
FIGHTING CONTINUES: Thai military dropped 40 bombs on border areas, Cambodia said, while Bangkok said Phnom Penh launched heavy attacks and damaged homes Cambodia yesterday accused Thailand of intensifying its bombardment of disputed border areas, even as officials from the two countries attend a multi-day meeting aimed at negotiating an end to deadly clashes. The neighbors’ long-standing border conflict reignited this month, shattering an earlier truce and killing more than 40 people, according to official counts. About 1 million people have also been displaced. Cambodian and Thai officials were in their third day of talks at a border checkpoint, with ministers of defense from the two countries scheduled to meet today. However, the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense said Thailand’s military carried out a heavy
RSS