Search for missing VIP relocates jet ski race

Matheos Viktor Messakh ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Tanjung Benoa, Bali   |  Sun, 10/26/2008 12:01 PM  |  Asian Beach Games

The Asian Beach Games organizers reshaped and relocated the venue of the jet ski competition Saturday to allow the rescue team to focus on its search for event director Jeremy Holland, who went missing during a leisure trip Friday.

Competition official Daniel Massie said most of the boats and helicopters allocated to escort the race were instead deployed for the search effort. As a result, the fairway, which spanned from Tanjung Benoa Beach to the south,was relocated to around Tanjung Benoa Beach to minimize the risk.

The previous fairway stretched about 67 kilometers from Benoa Beach to Nusa Lembongan Islet and was divided into three laps.

"We have been training for quite a long time at the old fairway, and we had more or less adjusted ourselves to it, but now we have to relocate," Massie said.

"Jet skiing is about stamina and strategy. Now, we have to change our strategy,"

Holland went missing during a trip to Nusa Lembongan, some 20 kilometers south of Bali, along with four of his friends.

The search effort began Friday evening, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen.T. Asikin Husein said

"The jet skiers went out to snorkel in the morning, but they didn't officially report to the security officers,"Asikin told reporters during an inspection of jet ski venue in Nusa Dua.

"They told the competition manager that they would loiter around the seashore. Actually they went to Nusa Lembongan to snorkel.

"On their way back, a member of the group said he was tired so Jeremy, who is an international jet ski master, offered to escort the group from behind. He didn't arrive at the base camp, however, when the others did."

At around 5.30 p.m. Friday, Peter, one of Holland's friends who went to island with him, received a text message from Holland's UK cell phone number saying he was on the right side of the beach, about two miles away from the seashore, Husein said.

"It was his estimation, it could have been farther than that,"Asikin said.

"If we learned his last position and combined it with the Meteorology and Geophysics body (BMG) analysis during the day, he might have been dragged by the wave to the south. That is where our search effort is concentrated."

The jet ski competition, which offers four gold medals, finished Saturday with Indonesia winning two bronze medals from the runabout open and endurance open events.

Rocky Soerapoetra won the bronze in the runabout open Friday, while Temmy Fitramsyah Iskandar took the bronze in open endurance race Saturday.

Indonesian jet skier Irwansyah Adi Pratama finished third in the open ski category. Because only Indonesia and Thailand competed in the event, however, organizers are yet to decide whether to present the host jet skier with the bronze in accordance with Games rules.

The gold and silver medals went to Thailand's Arthit Wongpinta and Chutchanun Siriwattanakul respectively.

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