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**JAKARTA, May 20 (APD) ** – A joint rescuer operation managed to save more than 100 lives onboard a passenger ship serving East Java and East Kalimantan provinces’ capitals after the ship was caught by fire on Friday afternoon.
Sea Transportation Director General at the Transportation Ministry Tonny Budiono said on Saturday that all passengers and crews of Mutiara Sentosa 1 ship have all been evacuated safely ashore, adding that none was died in the mishap.
The ship was reported of carrying 134 passengers, operated by 44 crews.
The ill-fated passenger ship was on its service to transport passengers and vehicles to East Kalimantan capital of Balikpapan after it departed from East Java capital Surabaya on Thursday night.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) in its initial report said that 3 were killed in the sea incident. The perished three have not been identified whether they were passengers or crews, part of the initial 10 people evacuated from the burned ship.
“For the injured ones, they would be treated in Masalembu public medical center. Those who were not injured would be placed in Masalembu seaport passenger terminal,” Tonny said.
The joint operation was carried out by fishery and maritime ministry’s patrol boat, rescue boats operated by National Search and Rescue Agency (basarnas), Navy vessels, fishing boats and several commercial boats sailing near the incident location.
Tonny said the evacuation process was hindered by high wave and fire that gutted the middle to front part of the ill-fated ship.
“The waves were as high as 1.5 meter that made us spending more time to evacuate those onboard the burned ship,” Tonny added.
According to the accounts of saved passengers, the fire came from car deck. Sprinklers in the ship were functioning, but not powerful enough to extinguish the fire. The ship captain had issued an order to abandon the ship, they said.
The fire incident took place on Friday afternoon, 3 miles northeast from Masalembu Island in Java Sea. The island is administered by Madura’s Sumenep regency of East Java province.
The burnt ship was then anchored in shallow waters later on Friday night, Tonny said.
According to Tonny the fire incident proves that safety regulation on passenger ships has yet to be well-addressed by ship operators.
“As the regulator, we have issued the regulations to address safety. In the implementation, it should be our common responsibility to address the regulation,” he added.
A team from the National Committee on Transportation Safety (KNKT) has been departed to the location to investigate into the fire incident.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
