Overloaded Boat Capsizes Off Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island Killing 15 People Onboard

An overloaded passenger vessel reportedly capsized off Sulawesi Island in Indonesia, taking the lives of 15 individuals, rescuers informed on Monday. Authorities reported that the 33 other passengers could survive.

The ship sailed from Lanto village based in Buton Central regency of Southeast Sulawesi province to Lagili village when it capsized sometime after midnight on Monday, Muhammad Arafah, the local search and rescue agency’s head, informed. The wooden vessel was designed for transporting 20 individuals. Initially, a search and rescue team discovered 15 dead bodies, rescued six, and continued searching for others.

Video Credit: @mirrornow/ Youtube

However, the operation was eventually called off when officials determined that all those on board had been accounted for. Muhammad Arafah said twenty-seven individuals managed to survive but had not been reported earlier as they went home. Three inflatable boats, six expert divers, and two fishing boats were used as the search was underway.

On Sunday, thousands of residents travelled to their villages to celebrate the regency’s ninth anniversary, and many were transported by fishing or passenger boats.

Television news revealed footage of individuals on fishing boats retrieving dead bodies in the darkness of the night and relatives grieving while waiting for information at a port and a local hospital. Indonesia, an archipelago with over 17,000 islands, is a country where boats and ferries are a usual form of transportation. Accidents occur frequently due to several lax safety standards and issues related to overcrowding.

In 2018, an overcrowded ferry with about 200 individuals sank in a lake in the North Sumatran province, killing 167 people. In one of the nation’s worst-recorded disasters, an overcrowded passenger vessel submerged in 1999 (February) with 332 individuals onboard. Only 20 individuals managed to survive.

Reference: Alarabiya News, NY Times, Time.com

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Source: Maritime Shipping News