At Least 11 Dead, 9 Others Missing After Boat Capsizes in Indonesia

At Least 11 Dead, 9 Others Missing After Boat Capsizes in Indonesia
Rescuers on a rubber boat scans the horizon as they search survivors after a passenger boat KM Cahaya Arafah sank in the waters off South Halmahera district in North Maluku, Indonesia, on July 19, 2022. BASARNAS via AP
Aldgra Fredly
Updated:
0:00

At least 11 people died, and nine others were missing when a speedboat carrying 78 people capsized off Indonesia’s western province of Riau on April 27, according to local authorities.

The speedboat, Evelyn Calista 01, left a seaport in the Indragiri Hilir Regency of Riau province on Thursday for a 124-mile trip to Tanjung Pinang city. Local officials said the boat sank just three hours after departure.

Nyoman Sidhakarya, chief of Pekanbaru Search and Rescue Agency, told The Associated Press that the speedboat was carrying 72 passengers and six crew members when it capsized in the rough seas.

Sidhakarya said that 58 people had been rescued, and 11 bodies were recovered on Thursday. Most of the survivors were unconscious when they were rescued, having spent hours adrift in the water, he added.

The search for the remaining nine individuals continues. Local police chief Norhayat said that authorities used tugboats and inflatable vessels for the rescue missions, but high waves have hampered the operation.

The cause of the sinking is still being investigated. Norhayat said that some passengers claimed the boat collided with a large log while navigating through strong winds, leading to the sudden overturning of the vessel.

Boat tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used as transport and safety regulations can lapse.

In 2018, an overcrowded ferry with about 200 people on board sank in a deep volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra province, killing 167 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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