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18 confirmed dead in Batam boat accident
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Fatal accident — Riau Islands Police officers list the names of passengers on board a boat that sank off Tanjung Bembang, Nongsa, Batam, on Wednesday. (JP/Fadli)
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ighteen people were killed in a boat accident off Tanjung Bembang, Nongsa district, Batam, on Wednesday morning, the Riau Islands Police have confirmed.
Citing data from Bhayangkara Hospital, the police stated that 11 of the 18 dead victims were female, including one child, while seven others were male.
Riau Islands Police chief Brig. Gen. Sambudi Gusdian said there was still confusion about the passengers on board the boat when it sank in Nongsa waters.
He said that based on information from survivors, the boat had been carrying 98 passengers and three crew.
“Of the total, 39 people survived the accident while 18 others were found dead. The remaining 44 passengers remain missing,” Sambudi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
(Read also: BREAKING NEWS: Boat carrying 93 migrant workers capsizes in Batam, 21 die)
Haryanto, 51, a passenger from Bondowoso, East Java, said the boat had been carrying illegal Indonesian migrant workers from Malaysia. Each passenger paid 1,300 ringgit (US$311) to a middleman to travel to Batam, he added.
Haryanto further said that the boat departed from a forested area in Selingi, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, at around 3 a.m. local time on Wednesday. After sailing for two hours amid heavy rain, he said, the boat capsized when it was struck by a large wave off Tanjung Bembang.
The Riau Islands Police also reported that they had arrested the boat’s owner, identified by the initial R, as she attempted to flee to Singapore following the incident. The police said they were still investigating the case, including the cause of the incident. (ebf)
