Int'l:Indonesian ferry 'sinks in storm'

[Retrovision]

(From: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6218651.stm)

At least 500 people are feared to have drowned after a ferry travelling between the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Java sank during a storm.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by choppy seas and high winds.

About 62 people have been accounted for, reports say, with many survivors sheltering on smaller vessels or nearby islands because of the bad weather.

The ship was travelling from the port of Kumai on the island of Borneo to Semarang on the main island of Java.

A local police chief said the boat had only 200 listed passengers but most reports say the real number aboard the vessel was more than double that.

Ships and ferries are a cheap and popular means of transport between the 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia.

Correspondents say safety standards are not always enforced and vessels frequently carry more passengers then they are meant to.

Stormy weather

The boat is thought to have sunk about 40 km (24 miles) off Mandalika island, about 300 km (190 miles) north-east of the capital, Jakarta.



According to a naval official interviewed by the BBC, the ship's crew contacted the coastguard shortly after midnight to say they had lost control of the vessel.

Rescue teams have been ready at Semarang harbour since morning but massive waves and high winds have prevented their boats from setting out, BBC correspondent Lucy Williamson reports.

A survivor interviewed by the Associated Press news agency said passengers on the boat began praying as the waves rose around them.

The survivor, who gave his name as Cholid, said passengers also fought over life jackets as the boat capsized.

"I was going upstairs to try to help my daughter, but the ship suddenly broke up and I was thrown out. I lost her," he said.

© BBC MMVI
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A picture of the ferry that I found on the net (AP)

[Curtis]

Another Ferry Sinks in this bad Year for Ferries. Good thing the Year is almost over. 2007 could be better.

[Mike C]

Good lord. We are sinking ferries everywhere you look. Let's hope this terrible trend does not continue, espescially into BC Ferries in the coming year.

[Scott]

www.suaramerdeka.com/harian/0604/04/nas17.htm

[Low Light Mike]

I saw that same photo, earlier today, from the shipspotting.com message forum.

The style of the bridge reminds me of the Spaulding design.

The styled message painted on her side looks a bit like graffiti, huh?

[Low Light Mike]

Here's some bits & pieces of internet stuff about Indonesian ferry travel (not specific to this ship sinking):
=================================

Here's a link to a traveller's story about Indonesia, including some thoughts on the ferry system (she only talks about ferries at the beginning of this page):
www.suzannestravels.com/round-the-world/journalbali2.html

Here's a link to an expert article about the Pelni Lines ferry system in Indonesia:
www.maritimematters.com/pelni-boonzaier.html

[Retrovision]

And now an added twist to the story, this many days after...
(From: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6229867.stm)

Last Updated: Thursday, 4 January 2007, 09:25 GMT

Java ferry captain 'found alive'

The captain of a ferry which sank in the Java Sea last weekend has been found alive, Indonesia's navy says.


Survivors of the Java ferry disaster
are still being found

He was one of around a dozen people found on Wednesday on an oil rig in the Java Sea, a naval colonel said.

Some 220 of at least 600 passengers believed to have been on board the Senopati Nusantara when it sank in bad weather have so far been found alive.

A separate search is continuing on the island of Sulawesi for a passenger plane that disappeared on Monday.

The captain of the Senopati Nusantara is recovering in hospital in the provincial capital of Surabaya after his rescue on Wednesday, officials said.


He has confirmed his identity but is too weak to answer questions about the causes of the disaster.

Small groups of survivors have been found in recent days, stranded on islands in the Java Sea.



A group of 14 men and one woman was found on an island close to Bali, almost 500km (310 miles) from where the ship went down.

High winds and stormy weather have swept many victims hundreds of kilometres away, making it harder to locate them, the BBC's Jakarta correspondent says.

Many others have been seen floating on life rafts out at sea.

The ferry sank in the early hours of Saturday en route from Kumai on Borneo island to Semarang in central Java.

Survivors have been recalling the terrifying moment the boat went down, and the ordeal of days at sea waiting to be rescued.

"After the ship sank, all I could hear were the cries and screams of passengers on the surface," one man, Nadi, told the BBC.

Transport evaluation

Meanwhile, aircraft from Singapore equipped with infra-red radar have joined the hunt for the Boeing 737 that went missing on Monday.


The search for the plane is being
stepped up in Sulawesi

Bad weather and false leads have hampered the search, which has involved military and civilian aircraft and naval ships scouring western Sulawesi's mountain coastline.

The plane carrying 102 people was flying between Surabaya, on central Java island, to Manado on the northeast tip of Sulawesi island when it lost contact.

The Indonesian president has promised to set up a team to evaluate transport safety in Indonesia and has instructed the searches to continue, our correspondent says.

©BBC MMVI

[Shane]

This thought has just come to my mind...
has it ever occured to you that most of these ferries sink in Asian countries...
And these ferrys are basically overcrowded rust buckets...
This is from a lack of decent maintenance to the ships and a lack of safety standards and safety equipment...
They really need to do something about these ferry systems, make them alot more safe...

[Retrovision]

(Associated Press Story Found Here: www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070108.windoship0108/BNStory/International/home
© Copyright 2007 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

15 more ferry survivors plucked from sea
ZAKKI HAKIM

Associated Press

MAKASSAR, Indonesia — Fifteen people who spent nine days on a life raft after their ferry sank in the Java Sea — sharing emergency rations of food and water — were plucked from the water after the crew of a passing ship saw them waving for help.

One in the group — an 18-year-old — died hours after the rescue, which came Sunday after the life raft drifted 370 miles from where the Indonesian ferry carrying more than 600 people sank in stormy weather.

Baiman, a 25-year-old construction material supplier who was taken to the hospital as soon as he reached land, said Monday that four of the ferry's crew members were among those on the life raft.

“Their knowledge of the sea helped us, especially when we were pounded by high waves and when the sun was blazing down on our raft,” he said. “They encouraged us and kept our spirit alive.”

Baiman, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, said he was in the ferry's cafe when the ship turned dark and listed.

“Water rushed in and the boat started to sink. I tried to smash the window but I couldn't,” Baiman said. “Finally someone helped me break it and I swam into the sea. I was pulled into a life raft with 14 other people.”

Indonesia's tropical waters are generally warm — from 72-84 degrees — and officials said people have been known to survive for days. Many of the Senopati Nusantara's lifeboats were equipped with emergency rations of cookies, dry bread and water — including the one brought to shore Monday. It also had an emergency whistle.

“We shared the food and water and saved some of it until we were rescued,” said Baiman.

About 245 people have been found alive since the ferry sank after being pummelled by four-metre waves just before midnight Dec. 29, but only 13 bodies have been recovered.

More than 400 people remain missing, and one survivor, 35-year-old Sugyiyono, said Monday he believed many of them were trapped inside the ship when it went down.

Eko Supriyanto, a member of the cargo ship crew who picked up the latest survivors, called their story “a miracle.”

“We heard someone whistling a signal of danger and then saw 15 people on a life raft waving their arms and realized they must be survivors of the Senopati Nusantara,” he said.

“They were weak and sunburned, but otherwise safe except for one boy, 18-year-old Agus, who was suffering from asthma and in critical condition,” Mr. Supriyanto said. “He died hours after our crew picked him up.”

Family members were anxiously waiting for loved ones at the Makassar port Monday after learning they were found alive.

“My heart was beating so fast when I heard the ship sank and waited for news about my son,” said Thalib, 40, tears rolling down her cheek. “When I was told he had been rescued I said 'Thanks be to God'!”

Ferries are a main source of transportation in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands with a population of 220 million. Overcrowding and poorly enforced safety standards mean accidents are common.

The Senopati Nusantara was sailing from Borneo Island to the country's main island of Java when it capsized, apparently after waves washed into the car deck and became trapped there, a government investigator said. Similar accidents have occurred on other “roll-on, roll-off” ferries around the world, leading to calls for a change in their design.

In 2000, almost 500 people died when a ferry carrying Christians fleeing religious violence in the eastern Maluku islands capsized. A year later, 350 were killed when a boat carrying asylum seekers from Iraq and Afghanistan sank after setting sail from Java to Australia.

Seasonal storms in Indonesia have triggered deadly landslides, flooding and at least six maritime accidents. A jetliner with 102 people on board disappeared last week in heavy winds and is still missing.

(Associated Press Story Found Here: www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467689754&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
© 1995 - 2007 The Jerusalem Post. All rights reserved.)

Jan. 9, 2007 2:28
14 survivors from Indonesian ferry sinking found
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

[/b]
Fourteen people who spent nine days on a life raft after their Indonesian ferry sank have been rescued by a cargo ship, the survivors and officials said.

A 15th person died soon after they were plucked from the water nearly 600 kilometers (370 miles) from where the ferry, carrying more than 600 people, sank in a storm.

One survivor on Monday recounted the moments before the Senopati Nusantara sank, and his struggle to survive before the rescue Sunday.

"I was in a cafe on second floor when the ship suddenly turned dark and slanted to a side," said Baiman, 25, a construction material supplier.[/quote]

[Low Light Mike]

No disrespect intended to those who were on that Indonesian ferry, but I was wondering about a hypothetical quick-capsizing or list of a BC Ferry.

Assuming a ferry such as a C-Class has a quick capsize or list-and-sink.

For survival, where would the best place be, for someone to be at the time that she started listing?

- outside deck, on the high-side of the list, with a rail to hold onto?

Just curious....