Speedboat collides with longboat, 7 dead

BALIKPAPAN: A speedboat carrying illegal migrant workers collided with a longboat carrying other workers off Kalabakan, Tawau, claiming seven lives and leaving two others missing, officials said Wednesday.

The speedboat was carrying 10 passengers from Nunukan, East Kalimantan, to Tawau in Malaysian Borneo. The longboat, meanwhile, was carrying 24 people in the opposite direction. From a total 33 passengers, 23 were rescued.

"The latest information was provided by the Indonesian consulate in Tawau. Some of the victims have been buried, while the rescued survivors are being accommodated at Tawau police station," said Sofyan Asnawi, who heads the Center for Regional Joint Society Development, in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

Sofyan said the accident took place at around 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Nunukan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Purwo Cahyoko said his office was still investigating the cause of the accident and had yet to certify whether the victims were illegal immigrants. -JP