The Jakarta Post, March 16, 2007
Medical team still missing at sea after two weeks
M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon
Search and rescue teams are still trying to find the boat in which a six-member
medical team from the West Southeast Maluku Health Office has been missing since
Feb. 28.
The medical team, consisting of health office head Juliana Carolus and medical
workers Petronela Kulalean, Daniel Arseyam, Mikael Djififin, Matias Rahanluan and
Victor M. Jabar, was traveling on a speedboat from South Tanimbar district to Alusi
Kelaan village in Karmomolon district.
They had planned to attend a mass medication program for local residents in Alusi,
but did not arrive at their destination or return home. Authorities fear the boat may
have gone off course in strong currents, perhaps at night.
The search, involving the local administration as well as the Indonesian Navy and local
residents, has been hampered by bad weather and stormy seas.
West Southeast Maluku Regent Bitzael Silvester Temmar told The Jakarta Post by
phone Wednesday that the search had been directed to the Arafura Sea between Aru
Island and Papua following information from the public that the team was stranded on
coral reefs in the middle of the shallow sea.
"We received information that Carolus' group might be there. We will coordinate with
the navy to check its reliability," said Temmar.
He said his office had also contacted the airbase in Dobo and requested that all ships
in Arafura waters join in the search.
The Indonesian Air Force carried out patrols using a Nomad plane to scour Maluku's
southernmost islands, where the boat is believed to be, but did not find any traces of
the missing group.
Commercial and naval ships as well as fishing boats in Saumlaki, the regental capital
of Southeast West Maluku, have been mobilized in the effort.
Coastal communities are helping by combing seaside areas the ill-fated speedboat
may have passed.
Temmar said preliminary findings suggested the boat had not sunk, since there was
no evidence suggesting it had.
His office, however, speculated that the speedboat might have drifted and become
stranded in Papua or Australia, since West Southeast Maluku waters border
Australian territory.
The local administration has contacted the Indonesian consulates in Australia and
Papua New Guinea to request that both governments notify their ships about the
missing boat.
Meanwhile, the younger sister of Juliana Carolus, Desi Carolus, said she hoped
search efforts would continue. She told the Post in Ambon that the West Southeast
Maluku administration had notified her family of the possible location of the missing
boat.
"We keep praying and ask for everyone's support to locate them. We strongly hope
the search will get results," she said.
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