"The four crew members of the Muara Sejati Tugboat that survived are John Kakalang, the ship's captain, Kurniawan Iman Setiaji (machinist), Anton Mazuki (oiler) and Asril Basri (helmsman), while the search is still on for six other crew members," Chief of the Pangkalpinang SAR Office I Made Oka Astawa remarked here on Monday.
Astawa said the four crew members were found in the waters of Tanjung Binga Sea, Belitung. After the ship sank, the victims reportedly saved themselves using an emergency life raft.
Earlier, on December 30, 2022, the Pangkalpinang SAR received a distress alert signal from the Muara Sejati tugboat, with a White and Blue call sign - YD6120.
The Muara Sejati tugged Ketapang 1 Barge, loaded with coal, sailing from Palembang, South Sumatra, to Sanggau Port, Pontianak, West Kalimantan.
On December 30, from 6:38 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. local time, SAR's Local User Terminal (LUT) received distress alert signal beams from Muara Sejati 13 times.
"The finding of this life raft cannot be separated from the fact that the Disaster Response Cadets (Tagana) who reported to the Tanjung Pandan SAR Alert Unit Post due to which the joint SAR team in Belitung found the life raft and evacuated the victims," Astawa explained.
The four rescued crew members are currently receiving treatment at the Belitung local health center, he remarked.
He urged all sea captains and fishers to pay attention to weather conditions at sea that are currently not favorable.
Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has issued an early warning on the potential of high waves, reaching 2.5 meters to four meters, on January 2-8, 2023, in some waters throughout Indonesia, including the Karimata Strait and Central Kalimantan waters.
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Translator: Kasmono, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
