The ship with 47 immigrants and two Indonesian crew members on board developed a serious leak and capsized in the Cipatujah waters Saturday morning.
All the passengers were lucky to have saved by fishermen and Cipatujah water police personnel, while the wreckage has been left alone in the sea.
The wreckage which later went down was noticed by members of the Tasikmalaya Disaster Volunteer Forum (FRBT) which had been constantly watching the ill-fated boat until it eventually capsized and went down.
"The strong sea waves brought the wreckage as far as 26 kilometers from the land," head of FRBT and Mational SAR Agency (BASARNAS) Gunawan Yudoharto said.
The illegal immigrants were planning to go the Australian waters, but their boat developed a leak, eventually capsized, and went down in Tasikmalaya waters.
It was lucky that local fishermen operating in the area saw the illegal immigrants in the sea.
The wreckage had been reported to the Water Police and immediately rescued and evacuated the immigrants, who were later given living quarters at Hotel Asri in Tasikmalaya pending their handing over to the immigration and international immigration organization handing illegal immigrants. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
