15 dead and 19 missing after boat sinks off the coast of Indonesia

At least 15 people have been confirmed dead, and 19 others are reported missing after a boat sank off the coast of Sulawesi Island in Indonesia, as announced by search and rescue officials.

The local office of the Indonesian search and rescue agency stated in a statement that the boat sank with 40 people on board after midnight local time (17:00 GMT on Sunday).

Six people were rescued and taken to the hospital for treatment, while investigations into the cause of the sinking are ongoing.

Mohammed Arfa, the head of the local search and rescue agency in Kendari, southeast Sulawesi, was quoted as saying, "The search is still ongoing for 19 people."

He further explained, "Two teams will conduct the search. The first team will dive around the accident site, and the second team will scour the waters around the accident site on a rubber boat and a steamboat."

The agency posted pictures of rescue workers being mobilized for the search, along with several bodies of the victims covered in traditional clothing at a local hospital.

A spokesperson for the local office, Wahyuddin, told Agence France-Presse that the boat was traveling between the villages of Lanto and Lagili on Mona Island in southeast Sulawesi.

He noted that the boat was a wooden vessel used for passenger transport.

Local media reported that the boat was overcrowded, but Wahyuddin declined to confirm this, stating that an official press briefing regarding the cause and assessment of the sinking will be held later today.

In Indonesia, the actual number of passengers on board boats often differs from the official records.

Maritime accidents are common in Indonesia, an archipelago consisting of 17,000 islands where safety standards are not consistently enforced.

In 2018, around 160 people lost their lives when a ferry sank in one of the world's deepest lakes on Sumatra Island.

In May 2022, an incident occurred where an overloaded ferry carrying 839 people in the Nusa Tenggara East region listed for two days. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP