TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

15 missing after Vietnamese freighter hits Indonesian boat

(Associated Press)

Jakarta

Sun, November 20, 2016 Published on Nov. 20, 2016 Published on 2016-11-20T13:31:43+07:00

15 missing after Vietnamese freighter hits Indonesian boat

In search -- Joint search team members pull the body of a boat accident victim from Nongsa waters, Batam, Riau Islands, on Nov. 4. (Antara/MN Kanwa)

A

collision between a Vietnamese freighter and an Indonesian sailboat left 15 people missing off Indonesia's East Java province, an official said Sunday.

The cargo ship MV Thaison 4 and the KM Mulya Sejati, which was carrying 27 people, collided before dawn Saturday off Tuban district, said the head of the local Disaster Mitigation Agency, Joko Loediyono.

Media reports quoted witnesses as saying the Indonesian boat capsized after being hit from behind by the freighter, which is now being moored in Lamongan town for investigation. The freighter, loaded with tapioca flour, was reportedly heading to Tanjung Perak seaport in East Java's capital of Surabaya.

All of the victims were from the Indonesian boat, and 12 were rescued and rushed to a hospital for examination.

A search for the missing has been underway with the help of the navy, which deployed two warships, Loediyono said.

Sea accidents are common in Indonesia, where boats are a popular and relatively cheap form of transportation in the world's largest archipelago nation, which spans more than 17,000 islands with a population of 256 million.