MAKASSAR, Indonesia ( Associated Press) — Three days after a freighter capsized in the Makassar Strait in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province, 10 other survivors, including the captain and other crew members, have been located.
Of the total 42 people on board, 31 have been rescued since search operations began on Saturday, said Djunaidi, head of the provincial search and rescue agency. Like many Indonesians, Djunaidi only goes by one name.
The KM Ladang Pertiwi 02 sank on Friday afternoon in bad weather. The ship set sail Thursday from a seaport in Makassar for Kalmas Island in Pangkep Regency, South Sulawesi province, with stops en route to visit some islands in the Makassar Strait.
The 10 survivors rescued Monday morning by a local fisherman were taken to their home on Pamantauan Island in the Makassar Strait.
“They are safe and in good condition,” Djunaidi said.
The crashed ship was initially believed to be a passenger ferry, but Djunaidi later clarified that it was a freighter carrying construction materials. Thirty-six passengers had asked to travel on the ship with its six crew members. The search and rescue team was looking for the remaining 11 passengers.
Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used for transportation and safety regulations are not always adhered to.
In 2018, 167 people died when an overloaded ferry with 200 people on board capsized as it crossed a deep volcano crater lake in North Sumatra province.
In one of the country’s worst documented disasters, an overloaded passenger ferry capsized in February 1999 with 332 people on board. There were only 20 survivors.
