Twelve ferry survivors found on rig

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 01/04/2007 2:30 PM

Suherdjoko and Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Surabaya

Twelve survivors from the ferry that sank Friday off the Java coast with more than 600 people on board were rescued Wednesday after clambering onto an offshore oil rig more than 200 kilometers from the wreck.

Speculation remains about the mysterious fate of a 13th survivor, allegedly the ferry's suicidal captain, who two rescuers say was later transferred to a Navy vessel.

A spokesman for the Navy's eastern fleet in Surabaya, Lt. Col. Tony Saiful, said 12 passengers from the ill-fated Senopati Nusantara were picked up by a tugboat after clambering onto the offshore rig in waters near Madura Island. They were weak after spending more than four days in the sea, he said.

The survivors were taken to Surabaya early Wednesday by the Kharisma tug boat where they were treated at the Pelabuhan Hospital.

However, a member of the tug's crew, Endang, claimed one survivor, allegedly the Senopati Nusantara's captain, Wiratno, was later transferred to a Navy rescue ship while the other 12 victims remained in the tug boat.

Another crewmember, Achmad Halily, agreed 13 survivors were found near Madura Island waters.

""The ship's captain, Wiratno, suffered from a broken left wrist and he even tried to commit suicide by jumping into the sea when he was taken on board the Kharisma. He told me he felt guilty and responsible (for the accident),"" Achmad said.

Later, spokesman Tony denied the ship's captain had been picked up by the Navy and revised down his initial total of 13 survivors to 12.

""Data that I received says there was 12 survivors, not 13. It's not true another survivor has been picked up,"" he said.

The Senopati Nusantara with 628 people listed on its manifest sank late Friday after being pounded by waves for 10 hours during a violent storm.

The ferry was traveling from Kumai in Central Kalimantan to Semarang, Central Java.

As of Wednesday, 212 people have been found alive, most of them plucked from life rafts or clinging onto debris, but more than 400 remain missing, said Navy Col. Jan Simamora, the head of the search and rescue mission.

""We are trying our utmost to find more,"" Simamora told AP. ""We still hope that those (seen earlier) in lifeboats are still alive.""

A seperate air search by the Navy's eastern fleet spotted three empty rubber dinghies, two of which had been ripped apart by waves near Sapudi Island off East Java.

""There was no sign of survivors,"" said Capt. M. Ramdan, who piloted the aircraft that led Wednesday's search.

Messages of condolences for the ferry disaster have come from Iran, China and the Vatican.

Meanwhile, relatives of the missing passengers were still waiting at hospitals and ports along Java's coast Wednesday, hoping their loved ones might turn up alive, as rescuers began putting up pictures of bloated bodies washed ashore for identification.

Neneng Lilis, 34, has been waiting for five days in a Surabaya port to learn the fate of her missing husband, Dedi Rohana.

The native of Sumedang, West Java, said her husband, a trader, was returning home after delivering merchandise to Central Kalimantan.

""There's still no news of him,"" she said.

-- ID Nugroho contributed to the story from Surabaya, East Java.

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