Channel NewsAsia, 13 July 2007 2220 hrs
Seven survivors found days after Indonesian boat sank
AMBON, Indonesia : Seven more survivors of an Indonesian boat sinking were plucked
from treacherous seas Friday as the death toll rose to five, an official said.
Forty two people have now been rescued, three days after the Wahai Star ran into
engine trouble in rough seas with about 60 passengers on board.
"Seven more survivors and three more bodies have been found," port official Tumorang
Hutasoit told AFP.
"The search for survivors is continuing... There are currently seven ships and one
plane on location," he said.
Five people have been found dead, among them two children whose bodies were
retrieved on Wednesday.
A 35-year-old survivor, Maryam, who was among the first batch of passengers saved
by a passing oil tanker, recounted her ordeal from a hospital bed.
"The weather was bad. When the ship began to rock uncontrollably, the crew
distributed lifejackets," she told reporters, describing how the boat's engines suddenly
died on Tuesday night.
"When a big wave hit the ship, I covered my face so I didn't have to see it," she said,
adding that she did not know how she ended up in the water.
"Twelve other people and myself held on to two lifejackets. One of the women wanted
to hold onto her child who had drowned. We all told her to let go, but she hung on to
her child until she let go of us and disappeared," she said.
The accident occurred as the ship plied its regular route between the eastern
Indonesian islands of Buru and Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.
It was the latest in a series of fatal transport accidents in Indonesia, an archipelago
nation of some 17,500 islands where air and sea links are crucial but safety standards
are said to be low.
On Friday, continued poor weather and rough seas prevented several passenger boats
from leaving port at Ambon, about 2,300 kilometres (1,500 miles) east of the capital
Jakarta. - AFP/ir
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