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Three more bodies found in search for missing boat passengers
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Search mission: A search is underway for two people who remain missing after a wooden boat, or locally known as a pompong, sunk in Penyengat waters, Riau Islands, on Sunday. (thejakartapost.com/Fadli)
T
hree more bodies have been found in a search operation for missing passengers after a wooden boat, or locally known as a pompong, sank off Penyengat Island, Riau Islands, on Sunday.
Two people remain missing, Naval Main Base commander Commodore S.Irawan has said.
The three bodies were discovered by Navy personnel patrolling on three sea security patrol vessels, namely the Ranggas, Paku and Sea Rider, during their search operation on Monday morning.
The passenger boat serving the Tanjungpinang Port to Penyengat Island route sank in a bad weather on Sunday. Search patrols earlier found the bodies of 10 passengers from the incident.
National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) head Abdul Hamid said the search for the remaining missing people would be conducted until seven days had passed since the incident.
“We are ready to deploy our whole fleet to find the remaining missing people,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Abdul said based on information from surviving victims and the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) data, the westerly winds blowing through Penyengat waters had caused high waves and heavy rain when the boat sank between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday.
"The incident was purely caused by bad weather."
He said the boat was carrying 17 passengers, one of which was a child. Two passengers survived the incident although they suffered injuries. The boat sank on its way to Penyengat Island, which is approximately two kilometers from Tanjungpinang. (ebf)
