A collision caused a wooden ship carrying 14 illegal migrant workers (TKI) to sink early Monday, but no fatalities were reported.
The ship sank after colliding with CB Petir, a vessel that transported logistics for an oil and gas company operating along the border of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Two of the passengers were reported to be seriously injured while dozens of others suffered light injuries.
All the passengers have been placed into custody at the Barelang Water Police headquarters in Batu Ampar, Batam.
“They were heading illegally to Malaysia, traveling to work without proper documents,” said Barelang Water Police chief Comr. Mada Roostanto.
“They are just victims. We are investigating the agency in Batam.”
Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Monday, Mada said that the collision, which occurred at about 1:30 a.m., caused the wooden ship to capsize, which caused all the passengers on board to fall into the water.
Two of the 14 passengers are women. They have sustained injuries to their arms and thighs from ship debris. Others are bruised.
Mada also said that illegal sending of migrant workers from Batam was still rampant in the waters in the region, especially during bad weather, assuming that police patrols in the waters were less tight during such conditions.
Mada said there were spots that human traffickers used to transport illegal migrant workers from Malaysia to Batam.
“We are developing the case into possible fraud against the victims who were promised employment in Malaysia.”
A passenger, Hepi, 30, of Ende, Flores, said the collision occurred about an hour after the ship left the Batu Merah Beach, Batam.
“Thank God we all could swim. The crew of the ship that we hit also helped to save us.”
Hepi said he arrived in Batam on Friday and was promised a job as a manual worker at a construction site in Malaysia for a wage of RM (Malaysian Ringgit) 40 a day.
He added he had paid Rp 600,000 to Arif and Muis, the ones who steered the ship, as the sending agent.
This is the latest incident of troubled sea transport in Indonesia. Recently, a boat carrying 34 people, 24 of whom were Chinese nationals, sank at Aru waters in Maluku leaving six dead and 27 missing.
The latest reports say the 24 Chinese had never registered with the local immigration offices.
“I have checked with immigration office in Tual. They never reported there. We did not know their whereabouts,” Erzan Effendy, chief of the Ambon Immigration Office, told the Post on Monday.
He said the Jakarta office had not been notified either.
The Chinese were reported to be workers at PT Arabikatama Khatulistiwa Fishing Industry. Their boat sank on Jan. 27 with only survivor being identified as Ke Kaishen.
The rescue team has been stopped after an operation for seven days, including a sweep on several islands in the area.
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