A “snap decision” to defy weather warnings and set sail in treacherous seas off the coast of South Sulawesi Province may have led to the deaths of as many as 237 people aboard the MV Teratai Prima ferry early on Sunday morning, Indonesian Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said on Monday.
Jusman’s comments came as rescue teams, fishing vessels and the Navy braved rough seas in a desperate attempt to locate survivors in waters off the western coast of Sulawesi Island.
According to interviews conducted by the Jakarta Globe, as many as 30 people were believed to have survived. But hopes of finding the remaining 237 passengers and crew were quickly fading.
Nurwahidah, the administrative head of the port in Pare-Pare, South Sulawesi — the city that the ferry bound for Samarinda, East Kalimantan Province had departed from — said seven survivors were found on Monday, as the first body to be recovered was brought ashore. The victim has yet to be identified, Nurwahidah said.
The Transportation Ministry said it has launched an investigation into Indonesia’s latest ferry disaster. Of particular concern was the lack of coordination between port officials in Pare-Pare and the captain of the ferry, Jusman said. The captain, identified as Sabir, survived the disaster.
The National Meteorological and Geophysics Agency had issued a bulletin on Friday, warning of heavy seas and dangerous shipping conditions throughout Indonesia.
“Why did the captain sail despite multiple warnings of bad weather?” Jusman asked. “The captain might have made a snap decision to sail due to clear skies just before the ship’s scheduled departure.”
The ferry did not appear to be equipped with emergency position-indicating radio beacons, or EPIRB, to signal maritime distress, raising questions about the responsibility of the captain and Samarinda-based ferry operator Batari Prima.
Ida Bagus Sanubari, the head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, or Basarnas, said that the inter-island ferry’s EPIRB was nowhere to be found. “No emergency signal was received from the ferry,” he said.
Ruslan Nicholas, Pare-Pare Police chief, said authorities would also investigate whether overcrowding or overloading contributed to the tragedy. The ferry was believed to have also been carrying as much as 274 tons of cargo.
Tatang Kurniadi, head of the National Transport Safety Committee, said it had deployed a team on Monday to start investigating.
One of the survivors, a man named Yulinus from Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, lost three family members in the tragedy.
“I was sleeping in the economy-class cabin when I heard a bang and saw my luggage falling from the overhead rack,” he said. “I looked outside my cabin window and saw massive waves. The ship started to roll and then I ran outside to the deck. It was pitch black.
“People were panicking and jumping into the sea. Even though I didn’t have a life jacket, I followed. It was madness. I swam for four hours and was miraculously saved by a fisherman,” he said.
Yulinus said the size of the waves and the speed at which the ferry capsized made it impossible for his family members to have survived.
The ferry has yet to be found. Navy spokesman Iskandar Sitompul said that five warships had been deployed to search for survivors. “But conditions are not optimal due to bad weather,” he said.
Rescue teams were also deployed by the West Sulawesi Marine Police, while aerial searches were being conducted by the Air Force out of Hasanuddin Airbase in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
Most of the survivors have been rescued by local fishermen familiar with sea conditions along the South Sulawesi coast.
Though hopes of finding survivors had dwindled, social organizations in Pare-Pare had prepared a shelter for survivors. More ominously, coffins lay stacked in wait.
Families of the missing passengers anxiously waited on Monday for updates outside the Pare-Pare Port Administration office.
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