Eight people died and two remain missing after a boat accident off Kupang waters Sunday.

The Kupang search and rescue team (SAR) is still searching for the missing passengers while relatives have collected the deceased for burial.

The accident occurred while the boat, carrying 19 passengers, was on an excursion to Kera Island, some 2 nautical miles from Kupang.

Boat owner Jeri Manlea, 26, said from Kupang Police station Monday that approximately 20 minutes after setting off, strong winds and huge waves developed suddenly and directly hit the wooden boat, capsizing it.

"Passengers panicked and asked me to turn back to Kupang. That was when the boat tipped over. There were no life buoys and passengers tried to save themselves by swimming or clinging on to the boat's hull," said Jeri on Monday.

He said he tried to persuade the passengers to calm down before the boat capsized, but some of them had panicked and jumped overboard, drowning.

"They likely died after taking in a lot of water," he said.

The eight victims were identified as Titinawati, 48, Mariance, 26, Markus, 43, Fahrul, 45, Maurint, 2. Ernawati, 60, Kristian, 23, and Yohanis, 30. The two others feared dead are Agung Prayitno, 27, of Pasir Panjang subdistrict and Miranda from Kupang.

Kupang city police chief adj. Sr. Comr. Marsudi Wahyono said the case was purely accidental and due to the weather. He emphasized that the case would still be investigated by police.

"We have detained the boat owner and skipper at the Kupang police station," said Marsudi. Five of the victims are to be buried in Surabaya.

This accident was the second in recent days. On Nov. 7, Eduardus Parman, 21, from West Manggarai regency, drowned when he fell overboard on a yacht owned by an Austrian citizen on Labuan Bajo ferry harbor.

Meanwhile, two people are still missing and three others injured after being dragged by high waves that hit Kukup beach in Gunungkidul regency, Yogyakarta on Sunday.

As of Monday evening, the SAR team was still looking for their bodies and had expanded the search to include Baron beach, located 2.5 kilometers from the western part of Kukup beach.

The two victims, Budi Rahardjo, 17, and Agus Kuncoro, 15, and the survivors were residents of Boyolali, Central Java. They were at the beach with members of the youth organization Karang Taruna.

Upon arriving at the beach around 12:20 p.m. the group swam together.

"At the time, the sky was covered by thick clouds and high waves hit the beach. Suddenly the current dragged five of them out to sea," said a witness Karso, a young coconut ice vendor at Kukup beach.

Three of the swimmers managed to swim back to shore and were immediately evacuated to the nearby hospital.

Ngadiman, a member of Kukup beach's SAR team, said his team was coordinating with other SAR team members, like those in Baron beach, to help search for the two bodies.

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