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Good Friday procession disaster claims seven in E. Nusa Tenggara
Good Friday tragedy: Several people try to rescue the passengers of a sunken boat in the Gonzalu Strait, the waters between the East Flores coast and Adonara Island, in East Nusa Tenggara on Friday
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Good Friday tragedy: Several people try to rescue the passengers of a sunken boat in the Gonzalu Strait, the waters between the East Flores coast and Adonara Island, in East Nusa Tenggara on Friday. Seven people died while several remain missing in the tragedy. The ill-fated boat, which was carrying scores of people on their way to see the procession of Good Friday, sank due to being overloaded. (Antara) (Antara)
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span class="inline inline-none">Good Friday tragedy: Several people try to rescue the passengers of a sunken boat in the Gonzalu Strait, the waters between the East Flores coast and Adonara Island, in East Nusa Tenggara on Friday. Seven people died while several remain missing in the tragedy. The ill-fated boat, which was carrying scores of people on their way to see the procession of Good Friday, sank due to being overloaded. (Antara)
Easter holiday festivities in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) have been overshadowed by the deaths of seven people who were onboard the Nelayan Bhakti motorboat, which sank during the Semana Santa nautical procession held as a part of Good Friday celebrations in the Sempit Ujung Aro Strait in Larantuka, East Flores, on Friday.
The East Flores Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) reported that 46 of the passengers of the ill-fated motorboat had been rescued. They also recovered the bodies of the seven deceased victims ' three kids and four adults.
According to Antara news agency, the victims were identified as Sister Epifany CIJ, Andreas Gewao Kleden, Marlin Wangge, Antonius Duan, Maria Nogo Weran, Dede Badin and Lodoviku S. Tukan.
BPBD head Tini Tadeus said that 29 of the survivors were still being treated at the East Flores General Hospital, while the other 17 had been discharged. A joint search and rescue (SAR) team conducted a search around the Sempit Ujung Aro Strait to find other passengers who are still missing, the exact number of which is still unknown.
'We will resume the search tomorrow [Saturday] because night has fallen and visibility is too poor,' BPBD head Tini Tadeus told The Jakarta Post on Friday
The accident allegedly occurred due to a combination of the boat being overloaded and a strong current.
Other participating boats swiftly came to the aid of the stricken vessel.
The nautical procession, a tradition among Larantuka people, was held as part of the preparation for the Easter celebration. In the annual ritual, thousands of pilgrims participate in a series of liturgical processions. During Good Friday celebrations, residents prepared a specially decorated boat to transport a casket carrying a statue of Jesus from Tuan Meninu Chapel in Rowid to Cure Port. This was called the nautical procession.
Dozens of boats, ferries and rowboats would then escort the main boat.
Meanwhile, in Gorontalo, the minority Christian community in Banuroja subdistrict, Randangan district, Pohuwato regency, celebrated Good Friday peacefully in a tolerant milieu.
'As always, we don't need the police to safeguard Easter celebrations here. There is nothing to worry about. All people have agreed to be mutually tolerant,' Geser Singon, a priest of the Pentecost Church Banuroja, told the Post over the phone, Friday.
'We also pray that Indonesia will always be in harmony and accept its different cultures,' he added.
In the subdistrict with a population of just 1,000, the Christian community of only 24 people has its own church.
Banuroja is an acronym representing the plurality of the ethnicities living in the subdistrict, which includes residents from Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, Toraja, Gorontalo and Java.
In Yogyakarta, thousands of Catholic congregations of the Hati Kudus Tuhan Yesus (HKTY) Church in Ganjuran, Bantul regency, have since Thursday been holding a series of masses as well as a Javanese style procession as part of the preparation for this year's Easter celebration.
Chairman of the church's parish council, Bernard, said that the celebration started with the White Thursday mass, then the Good Friday mass and would be closed with the Easter mass on Saturday evening.
Father Herman RSS PR in his mass said that the White Thursday mass was marked with the cleansing of the feet of the 12 disciples of Jesus by Jesus himself.
'This is to symbolize Jesus as the servant of people,' Herman said.
The cleansing, he said, was expected to symbolize people as the servants of the people. 'As Catholics we have to care for those less fortunate.'
To become caring people, he called on Catholics to spend an hour to remember God by attending mass during the Easter celebration.
'I always manage to celebrate Easter annually with the whole family to take time to remember God,' Waskita, a worshiper at the church, said.
Slamet Susanto in Yogyakarta contributed to this story.
