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Residents turn to rituals in search of Lake Toba victims
Almost a week after an overloaded ferry sank on Lake Toba in North Sumatra, residents along with the families of missing passengers on Friday performed a traditional ritual and joint prayer, in the hope that the ferry would be found soon and the fate of their loved ones ascertained
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lmost a week after an overloaded ferry sank on Lake Toba in North Sumatra, residents along with the families of missing passengers on Friday performed a traditional ritual and joint prayer, in the hope that the ferry would be found soon and the fate of their loved ones ascertained.
The joint prayer, held after Friday prayer, was led by the head of the Indonesia Ulema Council’s (MUI) Simalungun chapter, Abdul Halim Lubis, at a mosque near Tigaras Port, located around a kilometer from the site of the accident.
The joint prayer was held on the fifth day after the incident took place on Monday. The search and rescue team has yet to make significant progress in their efforts as a result of bad weather and poor underwater visibility.
“This is God’s fate. Through our little prayers, we wish that all the missing passengers be found soon,” Abdul told The Jakarta Post after leading the joint prayer.
Aside from the Islamic prayer, a group of volunteers also led a traditional ritual in the middle of Lake Toba.
“We believe this ritual will lead us to finding the missing passengers. We have marked spots that we believe are potential locations of the ferry,” a ritual participant, Fredy, said.
National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) head Air Marshal M. Syauqi expressed his appreciation, saying the team considered the joint prayer and ritual by civilians as a form of moral support for them.
Syauqi went on to say the team had still not found the precise location of the missing ferry and its presumed drowned passengers.
The search and rescue team has started to use a sidescan sonar and a multibeam sonar owned by the Indonesian Navy to detect the possible location of the Sinar Bangun ferry, which is believed to have been carrying over 200 passengers when it capsized on Monday.
“This is our only hope to find clues of the ferry’s whereabouts at the moment, because [the sonar devices] can detect objects located up to 600 meters deep. Lake Toba’s deepest point may reach over 500 m,” Syauqi told the Post.
Search and rescue mission coordinator Budiawan said the team had employed two methods on Friday: combing Lake Toba within a 20-mile radius of Tigaras Port and diving with the help of the sonar devices. The team also involved personnel of the Navy’s Frogmen Command (Kopaska) and their Denjaka specialized squad.
“A total of 150 people have been deployed to search for victims and the ferry,” Budiawan said.
The number of passengers retrieved from the water has barely changed since Monday, standing at 18. Three other passengers have been found dead. Meanwhile, 192 people have been reported missing. The authorities cannot reveal the precise number and identities of passengers as the ferry was carrying passengers beyond its actual capacity and did not have a passenger manifest. The ferry reportedly could only carry 43 passengers.
The families of passengers could not disguise their disappointment over the slow progress of the search efforts, but said they had prepared themselves for the worst-case scenario.
Ruth Sianturi, 16, a resident of Pematang Siantar, said she had tried to accept the fact that her brother, Richard Sianturi, had gone.
“[Our family] has accepted the fact that he might be dead by now. But we still have hope of finding his body, that’s all,” she said.
Many other relatives of victims publicly expressed their sorrow at Tigaras Port.
