At least 31 people were killed and dozens feared missing after a ferry sank off Indonesia's Sulawesi island in the latest transport accident to hit the nation, officials said yesterday.
Residents near the town of Bau Bau on southeast Sulawesi heard survivors screaming for help after the Acita 03 capsized at about 9pm on Thursday, ElShinta radio reported.
The 22m-long boat sank several kilometers from shore when passengers clambered to the roof seeking a stronger cell signal to make mobile phone calls, transport ministry official Djoni Algamar said.
"The ship lost its balance and capsized," he said.
Though only 60 names had been on the ship's manifest, Indonesian ferries frequently carry far more passengers than the number officially registered.
ElShinta's reporter said 151 people were believed to be on board, while Bau Bau Mayor Amirul Tamim told the radio station that 188 people were on the ferry and several dozen thought to be missing.
Thirty bodies were in the morgue at Bau Bau general hospital and 19 survivors were being treated for shock, officials said.
One body remained stuck in the boat because the vessel's fuel drums had polluted the area, making it hard to get inside, said Kasman, head of the hospital's emergency department.
A hospitalized survivor, Safruddin, told ElShinta that he had been traveling from his home village to work on Sulawesi after the one-week holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"I thought I would die. I managed to get out of the boat ... I held on to two pieces of foam and then I passed out. I woke up at the port and I threw up," he said, adding that he did not know how he got to port.
Safruddin said his two-year-old child and wife survived by clinging to wooden planks, and fishermen later rescued them.
Search and rescue team chief Roki Asikin told ElShinta that 125 people had been rescued. The search area has been widened and more ships mobilized to look for the missing, Algamar said.
A local policeman, Idwar said the vessel had been heading from Tomea island to Bau Bau on Buton island, around 1,500km northeast of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.
Tomea belongs to the Wakatobi group of islands, which is home to some of Indonesia's top dive sites and is popular with international tourists.
Millions of people are returning home over the next few days across Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, after the end of Ramadan.
Sea links are crucial in Indonesia, an archipelago nation of some 17,500 islands, but safety standards are frequently low or not enforced.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS