A ferry that sank in Indonesian waters this weekend, killing 29 people, was overloaded and its life boats were leaking, a survivor said yesterday.
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 said.
“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,” he said.
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 ferry, with a capacity of 273 passengers and crew, sank in less than 30 minutes after it started taking in water off the coast of Karimun in the Malacca Strait, captain Johan Napitupulu said.
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 Azli, who made it onto one of four lifeboats.
Many of the passengers were on their way to visit families for a Muslim holiday, and were carrying “huge suitcases,” he said.
“It wasn’t just the bad weather. The ferry was overloaded, so of course I’m angry that the ferry operator broke the safety rules and people had to die because of that,” Azli said.
“The safety equipment on the ferry also wasn’t up to standard. The life boat I was on leaked and water was getting in as we waited for help,” he said.
“All of us had to soak the water with our clothes and wring the water out as we waited,” he said.
He said there was a scuffle between the crew and passengers who were angry that life jackets and boats were not being prepared fast enough.
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