26 still missing after river ferry sinks in E. Kalimantan
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Archipelago | Fri, September 14 2012, 4:19 PM
Joint search and rescue teams, comprising personnel from the police, military and rescue agencies are still looking for 26 passengers from the ferry KM Surya Indah, which sank in the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan on Thursday evening.
The ferry was traveling from Samarinda to West Kutai, both in East Kalimantan, when the incident occurred.
East Kalimantan Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Antonius Wisnu Sutirta said on Friday that the rescue team had yet to determine the actual number of passengers on the ill-fated vessel.
“The current data is based on accounts by local residents who reported that their relatives were traveling on board the ship. [The number of victims] may increase,” Antonius said as reported by kompas.com.
As of Friday afternoon, the rescue team had evacuated 79 passengers. However, one of them, Suparno, who was the ship's chef, died during the evacuation process. (riz/lfr)
