A team of investigators from the East Java Police's Marine and Air (Polairud) Directorate and Banyuwangi police precinct is conducting the probe, according to Head of the Polairud Directorate Senior Commissioner Arman Asmara Syarifuddin.
To support this investigation, the Polairud team applies a scientific crime investigation approach and side-scan sonar to map the wreck of the vessel found upside down on the seabed of the Bali Strait, Syarifuddin told journalists here.
The side-scan sonar was deployed on the day the joint search and rescue team attempted to locate the shipwreck, which was found at a depth of about 50 meters below the sea surface, he added.
"The shipwreck can be lifted to the surface. It will provide additional pieces of evidence to assist the investigation process," Syarifuddin stated.
As reported earlier, Indonesian rescuers on Saturday, July 12, located the ferry wreck upside down on the seabed of the Bali Strait, with 17 people still missing after the vessel capsized on July 2.
The underwater search team also captured the first visual images of the sunken ferry, according to Ribut Eko Suyatno, Deputy for Search and Rescue Operations and Preparedness at the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).
As of Saturday evening—the 10th day of search efforts—the confirmed death toll stood at 18, with 30 survivors and 17 people still unaccounted for.
The roll-on/roll-off ferry was carrying 53 passengers, 12 crew members, and 22 vehicles when it departed Ketapang Port in Banyuwangi, East Java, at 10:56 p.m. local time on July 2. It sank en route to Gilimanuk Port in Bali at around 11:35 p.m. local time.
In response to the tragedy, President Prabowo Subianto has instructed all relevant government agencies to make all-out efforts to locate and rescue the remaining missing passengers and crew.
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Translator: Novi H, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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