2 Port Officials Suspended Over Roles In Tragic West Sulawesi Ferry Disaster

The Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari, January 23, 2009

 

 A member of a search and rescue team looks out at a naval rescue ship in Pare Pare port, on Jan. 12. At least 200 people are still unaccounted from the MV Teratai Prima ferry disaster. (Photo: Yusuf Ahmad, Reuters)

The Ministry of Transportation has summoned two port officials as part of an ongoing investigation into the MV Teratai Prima ferry disaster, which is believed to have claimed more than 300 lives.

 

Sunaryo, the ministry’s director general of sea transportation, said that Nurwahidah, the port administrator from Pare-Pare in South Sulawesi Province, and Sudiyono, the port administrator from Samarinda in East Kalimantan Province, had been suspended from their positions until further notice and summoned to Jakarta as part of the ministry’s internal investigation.

 

The ferry sank off the coast of Majene in West Sulawesi Province after reportedly being hit by large waves in the early hours of Jan. 11. The ferry was carrying at least 250 passengers and 17 crew members when it set off from Pare-Pare for Samarinda in East Kalimantan Province.

 

At least 200 people are still unaccounted for, though the actual figure is believed to be much higher.

 

South Sulawesi Police have arrested the captain of the ill-fated ferry, Sabir, who is facing charges of criminal negligence and a maximum sentence of five years in jail if convicted. He is alleged to have ignored storm warnings from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, or BMG. 

 

The National Transportation Safety Committee and National Search and Rescue Agency are conducting their own investigations, independent of the police and the Transportation Ministry’s probes.

 

Sunaryo said the sea transportation department would question Nurwahidah and Sudiyono to determine whether they should both be charged with negligence.

 

“We should look beyond natural causes for the accident,” Sunaryo said, adding that if proven guilty of neglecting professional rules, they would face administrative punishment, such as demotions.

 

A port administrator is responsible for issuing permits to allow ships to depart.

 

Nurwahidah denied accusations that he was responsible, saying that Sabir had submitted a list of the legal passengers and the details of the proposed sea voyage.

 

“The ferry sank eight hours after we gave them the permit, so the responsibility rests in the captain’s hands,” she said.

 

According to laws governing sea transportation, the captain of a ship is responsible for the information he or she submits to port authorities for a permit to sail. The captain would also be responsible for any illegal passengers who are not listed on the official documentation.

 

As an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia relies heavily on sea transportation, with millions of people traveling daily by inter-island ferries, despite long-standing concerns that the aging vessels are frequently overpacked with passengers and cargo.

 

In late 2006, about 400 people died when the MV Senopati Nusantara ferry sank off the northern coast of Central Java Province.