MV Senopati Nusantara
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The MV Senopati Nusantara was an Indonesian ferry that sank in a storm on December 30, 2006. The Japanese-made ship (built in 1969) was a scheduled passenger line from port of Kumai in Central Kalimantan (Borneo island) to Tanjung Emas port in Semarang, East Java. About 40 km (24 miles) off Mandalika island, the ship sank during the violent storm in Java Sea. At least 400-500 people are feared to have drowned.
About 245 people have been accounted for, reports say, with many survivors sheltering on life rafts, smaller vessels or nearby islands because of the bad weather.[1][2] [3]
A local police chief said the ship had only 200 listed passengers but most reports say the real number aboard the vessel was more than double that. Initial reports claimed as many as eight hundred were onboard although this was later lowered to around 628 including 57 crew. Design capacity was 1,300 passengers.
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[edit] Chronology
MV Senopati Nusantara was on scheduled time to bring passengers and vehicles crossing the Java Sea from Borneo to Java islands. On December 30, 2006, the ship sunk about 40 km (24 miles) off Mandalika island. According to the manifest, the ship was carrying 628 people including 57 crew,[1] but later press releases from government officials gave inconsistent number of total passengers.[2]
Stormy weather was the initial suggestion of the disaster main cause. Local officials of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), however, did not ban the vessel from sailing; the official at the Kumai port issued a sailing permit based on the weather report.[2] From one survivor account, the ship rolled over and part of the body sticking out the water before submerged into the sea.[3]
[edit] Ship characteristics
The ship has a license to carry 850 passengers.[4]
Indonesian Transport Minister, Hatta Rajasa, has said that the ship is not old and was still sea worthy.[2] The ship was made in 1990 and underwent repairs in 2006. The vessel is 2,178 gross dead weight tons was equipped with sufficient safety gear. He said that the ship was carrying 542 passengers, 57 crew members, 29 bus/truck drivers and conductors as well as their respective vehicles during its last journey.
[edit] Survivors
| Suvivors Found | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Number | Location/By | ||||||
| 31 December 2006[3] | 151 | disaster site | ||||||
| 31 December 2006[3] | 15 | a Vietnamese ship | ||||||
| 31 December 2006[3] | 11 | a fishing boat | ||||||
| 3 January 2007[5] | 12 | an oil rig | ||||||
| 3 January 2007[5] | 6 | ashore on Java beach | ||||||
| 5 January 2007[6] | 15 | Kangean island | ||||||
| 8 January 2007[7] | 14 | near Bali by a cargo ship | ||||||
Strong winds and sea currents hampered rescue efforts that the search and rescue team had to widened the search radius up to hundreds of kilometers away. In the first two days, the search team by helicopters faced difficulties to distinguish survivors with sea foams created by high waves. Even survivors on the life rafts had difficulties to stay alive. "There were three very big waves. They dragged us down, and when we re-surfaced I saw the child was dead. I took his body and tied him to the raft using my trousers," told a survivor after he was rescued by a fishing boat.[3]
Immediate rescue efforts were made by local fishermen and rescue workes. At least 177 survivors were found; 151 of them were saved ashore, 15 were picked up by a Vietnamese ship heading towards Surabaya and 11 were on a fishing boat.[4] Although Indonesian Navy had sent six warships, one Cassa plane, one Bell helicopter, two speedboats, one Nomad plane, one C-130 Hercules, one CN-235 airplane and two Bolco helicopters to find survivors,[8] only few were found in the following days, some of which were located by chance.
On January 3, 2007 (5 days after the event), twelve survivors (11 men and a six-year-old boy) were found on an unmanned oil rig 300 km (186 miles) away; another six were found on Java island.[5] They floated in life rafts waiting to be rescued for days without food; some could not survive and their bodies had to be thrown out into the water. Other survivors witnessed of dozens of bodies floating in the sea. They were taken immediately to a hospital in Surabaya.
On January 5, 2007, fifteen victims were found stranded on Kangean island.[6] On January 8, 2007 a group of fifteen survivors were picked up by a passing cargo ship from a life raft near Bali, 500 km (310 miles) away; one of them died soon after the group was rescued.[7] The fourteen survivors, who have survived by drinking rainwater and eating food supplies stored in the life raft for 10 days, were then taken to Makassar, South Sulawesi.
[edit] See also
Adam Air Flight 574, which crashed on January 1 during the same storm.
[edit] References
- ^ "More saved, hundreds missing after Indonesia ferry sinks", ANTARA, 1 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
- ^ a b c "Ill-fated KM Senopati was still sea-worthy: minister", ANTARA, 31 December 2006. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
- ^ a b c d e "Eyewitness: Java ferry survivor", BBC News, 4 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
- ^ a b "At least 177 survivors from Indonesian ferry", ANTARA, 31 December 2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
- ^ a b c "Indonesia ferry survivors found", BBC News, 3 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
- ^ a b "Two naval ships evacuate MV Senopati victims", ANTARA, 5 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
- ^ a b "Indonesia ferry survivors rescued", BBC News, 8 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
- ^ "TNI send more warships and planes to help evacuate sinking ship victims", ANTARA, 31 December 2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
[edit] External links
- BBC
- report from Al-jazeera
