"The joint SAR team successfully rescued eight crew members of the motor vessel carrying construction materials after it sank in waters off Tanjung Alang," the Head of Ambon's Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Muhamad Arafah, said in Ambon on Saturday.
The rescue operation began after a resident, Isjon Siwalette, reported to Ambon Basarnas around 07:35 a.m. Eastern Indonesia Time that a wooden motor vessel had sunk in the waters off Tanjung Alang earlier that morning and requested assistance.
Arafah said the SAR team departed at around 07:50 a.m. using a rigid buoyancy boat for the incident site located at 3°47'3.39"S - 127°59'40.85"E, approximately 16 nautical miles southwest of the BRIN Pier in Ambon.
The SAR operation, says Arafah, continued amid high waves with the state-owned rescue vessel KN SAR Abimanyu deployed to search the area at around 10:50 a.m.
The Ambon SAR ground team and residents of Alang Village informed at around 11:06 a.m. that a yacht had been circling near the location where the KM Teluk Bara had sunk.
"The Ambon SAR team then verified the information by dispatching to the yacht location, and around 11:26 a.m. the team arrived at the yacht and found all eight crew members safe on board," he said.
The SAR team confirmed that the victims had been rescued by the Salty Dogz, a New Zealand-flagged yacht, which was preparing to transport them to Ambon City.
According to the captain of KM Teluk Bara, they departed from Ambon City at around 05:00 a.m., en route to South Buru District.
However, upon reaching Tanjung Alang waters, the high waves struck the vessel, causing wooden planks on the lower hull to come loose and water to flood in.
All eight crew members managed to jump into the sea to save themselves.
After drifting at sea for several hours while staying afloat with the help of wooden planks and plastic jerry cans, the crew members were found and rescued by the Salty Dogz yacht at around 10:00 a.m.
The eight survivors were later transferred to the KN SAR Abimanyu and transported to the BRIN Pier in Ambon, where they were reunited with their families.
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Translator: Bayu Prasetyo
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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