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Fishermen grounded after fire in Muara Baru
Dozens of fishing boat crews are being forced stay on dry land after a fire destroyed more than 30 vessels on Saturday in Muara Baru, Penjaringan, North Jakarta.
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A fisherman sifts through the remains of a burnt boat at Muara Baru Port in North Jakarta on Monday. A blaze that struck the area on Saturday burned 34 fishing boats and caused an estimated Rp 3.5 billion (US$250,071) in damages.
(The Jakarta Post/Iqbal Yuwansyah)
F
ishermen of the Muara Baru fishing port in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, have to remain on land for the time being as a recent fire resulted in the closure of the port’s dock to allow debris to be cleaned up and for an investigation to continue.
Yuyuk, 42, said he considers himself lucky as the fishing boat he crews survived the inferno on Saturday that destroyed dozens of vessels, although now he cannot go to sea.
“We are not allowed to for the time being because when we set off to go fishing we dock here first [to prepare and resupply],” Yuyuk told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, referring to the area where the fire occurred.
He said that during the blaze on Saturday, he and other fishing ship crews frantically tried to reach their boats to take them far from the danger. However, because of the mayhem, the boats rammed into each other and sustained light to moderate damage.
He said that for the time being the boat that he worked on, a 120 gross tonnage vessel outfitted to catch skipjack tuna on the Indian Ocean, had to be docked near the port’s sea wall to undergo repairs before it would be allowed to return to the dock.
He said that because of the repairs and the dock’s temporary closure, going out to sea would have to be delayed for several weeks.
Jefri, 44, usually works to repair fishing boats docked at the port. During the fire, he hurriedly took the boat that he was working on out to safety, even though it was scheduled to go fishing for squid sometime this week.
The squid-fishing boat had to remain docked at the port’s sea wall, while he did repairs on five other boats belonging to his employer that had been damaged during the fire.
“We fix what we can first because we can’t go back to the main dock for now,” Jefri said.
The Saturday afternoon blaze allegedly broke out because of a spark from welding being done on the Artamina Jaya vessel. The fire destroyed more than 30 vessels.
Three people were injured, two employees from a nearby factory and a fire rescue officer, all of whom were sent to Atma Jaya Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
Strong winds quickly spread the flames among the anchored wooden vessels. The fire was reported to the North Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency on Saturday at 3.16 p.m.
Twenty-three fire engines helped extinguish the flames by 5.16 a.m. the next day. However, on Sunday at 7 a.m. flames were again seen coming from five of the boats. Five fire trucks were redeployed to extinguish the fresh outbreak.
The incident is not only being investigated by the Jakarta Police, but Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said the ministry was also looking into it. She alleged the fire might have been caused by errors at the fishing port.
“Many boats dock to do repairs or building work there, even though it is for unloading fish. It’s not for docking,” Susi said on Monday in Bandung, West Java.
He said the ministry had warned boat owners at the port to not repair their vessels at the dock and have the work done at a shipyard.
Susi also said that of the 34 destroyed boats, 10 were unregistered and not included in the port authority’s record of 1,250 fishing vessels.
She said the ministry wanted to determine whether the fire was purely an accident or if it was intentionally started as vessel owners sometimes only register one of their boats even though they actually operate up to 10 to fish illegally.
The Jakarta Police reported they have conducted interrogations.
“We have questioned 21 witnesses -- boat owners, crew members and regulators -- to aid our investigation and to find evidence,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said on Tuesday, Antara reported.
He said the investigation is continuing.
