JAKARTA, April 4, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Rescuers were searching for 17 missing
fishermen after two boats collided in waters off Indonesia’s West Java
province, officials said Sunday.
A fishing ship hit a larger cargo vessel on Saturday evening off Indramayu
regency, flipping the wooden boat’s 32 crew members into the water, said
Bandung rescue agency spokeswoman Seni Wulandari.
“Some 15 survivors have been evacuated to the cargo vessel but the team is
still searching for 17 other crew who went missing,” Wulandari told AFP on
Sunday.
Those rescued sustained minor injuries from the accident and would be
taken to a nearby hospital, she added.
The Habco Pioneer cargo vessel was sailing through the port of Merak from
the Indonesian island of Borneo when it was hit by a local fishing boat in
Indramayu waters, said Wulandari.
Boat accidents are common in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of
around 17,000 islands, due to lax safety standards.
In January last year, 10 people went missing after a boat carrying 20
migrant workers to neighbouring Malaysia capsized off the coast of Sumatra
island.