In a tragic incident off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, a passenger boat carrying an excessive number of passengers capsized, resulting in the loss of 15 lives and leaving 19 individuals missing. The small wooden vessel, which was transporting people between villages in Buton Central, a district in southeastern Sulawesi, met with disaster just after midnight.
Rescue teams have been tirelessly searching for the missing individuals amidst challenging sea conditions. Muhammad Arafah, a local official from the search and rescue agency, reported that six survivors have been rescued and 15 bodies have been recovered so far. The rough seas have posed considerable difficulties in the ongoing rescue operations.
The incident took place on a day when thousands of people in Buton Central had returned to their villages to partake in a local celebration. Many chose fishing or passenger boats as their means of transportation to reach their destinations. Distressing footage aired on television depicted fishing boats retrieving bodies in the darkness of the night, while grieving family members anxiously awaited news at the port and a local hospital.
Indonesia, being an archipelago comprising over 17,000 islands, heavily relies on ferries for transportation. Unfortunately, lax safety standards and overcrowding contribute to frequent accidents. Notably, in 2018, an overcrowded ferry sank in North Sumatra Province’s lake, claiming the lives of 167 passengers out of approximately 200 on board.
Tragically, Indonesia has witnessed one of its worst disasters in February 1999 when an overcrowded passenger ship sank with 332 people on board, leaving only 20 survivors behind.
It is crucial for authorities in Indonesia to address the issues concerning safety standards and overcrowding to prevent such heartbreaking incidents from occurring in the future.
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