Victims Might Be Trapped in Sunken Ferry

New equipment that can detect underwater objects up to a depth of 2,000 meters will be deployed to improve the search and rescue (SAR) efforts in finding the missing victims of the ferry accident in Lake Toba. The lake is more than 500 meters deep.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

Adianna Sinurat prays with her family on Thursday (21/6/2018) in the Pasahat Demban Tiar ritual on the shores of Lake Toba near Tigaras Port, Simalungun regency, North Sumatra. Adianna prayed that her son, Hotman Manik, 41, would be found along with the other missing victims in the tragic sinking of the Sinar Bangun passenger ferry in Lake Toba.

SAMOSIR, KOMPAS – Search and rescue (SAR) efforts to find the victims of the KM Sinar Bangun ferry that capsized in Lake Toba, North Sumatra, will now focus on a diving operation to find the ferry wreck. No additional victims were found on Thursday (21/6/2018), leading the SAR team to believe that many passengers might have gone down the vessel when it capsized and sank.

National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) head Muhammad Syaugi said at Tigaras Port that 14 divers from the Navy’s elite frogmen command (Kopaska) and the Basarnas special squad (BSG) were deployed to locate the ferry wreck at the bottom of the lake. A remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) was also deployed. “However, we are hindered by the lake’s depth at the site of the accident, which reaches 550 meters,” said Syaugi.

Divers can descend to a maximum 50 meters and the ROV can descend to 200 meters. However, because of a strong undercurrent, the ROV can descend to only 100 meters.

BSG commander Charles Batlajery said that diving in Lake Toba was difficult because underwater visibility was only 2 meters, while the lake was located 905 meters above sea level.

A multibeam echosounder that can detect underwater objects to a maximum depth of 2,000 meters will be used to improve the search efforts.

“The multibeam echosounder is now in Batam. It will arrive here tomorrow,” said Charles.

Reinforcement

On his visit to Lake Toba, Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto urged the joint SAR team to be more effective in their efforts in locating and recovering the ferry wreck. More advanced equipment might be necessary to recover the ferry wreck.

“It will be impossible for the divers to dive to 500 meters below the surface. We need to come up with new anchor-like equipment to recover the shipwreck,” said Hadi.

He said the TNI would provide its multibeam echosounder for use in the search efforts. The device would map out the bottom of the lake to locate the ferry wreck. Rear Adm. Harjo Susmoro, the head of the Indonesian Navy’s Hydrography And Oceanography Center, said the device would arrive soon at Lake Toba.

Hadi said the military had also provided reinforcements for the SAR team. On Wednesday, the Navy’s amphibious reconnaissance battalion (Yontaifib) joined the search efforts. On Thursday, Hadi arrived at Lake Toba with 25 members of the Navy’s elite Frogmen Command (Kopaska). It was hoped that their involvement, as well as the equipment from the Navy’s Hydrography and Oceanography Center, would improve the search efforts.

A Basarnas helicopter will be used to comb the lake area on the assumption that the currents may have carried away the victims’ bodies. The Navy will also deploy a side-scan sonar that can create an image of the lake bottom to a depth of 600 meters.

Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has called for accuracy in the missing persons list. Police personnel have been instructed to visit the families of the missing persons to cross-check the list. The ferry’s captain, who survived the accident, said the vessel was carrying around 150 passengers at the time of accident. “However, this is just an estimate, as there was no passenger manifest,” said Tito.

He stressed that local police should take legal steps against the captain, the ferry owner and relevant local officials. “The accident involves fatal neglect. Those who have been neglectful must be held responsible. The ferry left the port of origin without monitoring from the port authority, a communication radio or a passenger manifest,” Tito said.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said he had allowed the police to question relevant officials responsible for overseeing ferry services, including officials at the regency, provincial and central government levels. “As long as it follows the law, we’ll allow it,” he said.

According to Budi, the ministry will improve the ferry services on Lake Toba, especially the safety standards. This will include requiring all ports to have an authority that monitors all incoming and outgoing ships and conduct sailworthiness tests every six months – including safety equipment checks. In the first phase, the ministry will distribute 5,000 life jackets to vessels operating on Lake Toba.

Victim verification

Regarding the exact number of victims, Basarnas’s Syaugi said the agency would clarify and synchronize its missing persons registry with reports from the victims’ families. The latest report says that 184 people are still unaccounted for.

“The number of victims that are still missing has been reduced from 195 as previously reported, as some of the so-called victims have appeared, not having boarded the KM Sinar Bangun. We have also found duplicate names in the registry. The number of living victims that have been rescued has increased to 19, as ferry captain Tua Sagala was not included on the list in previous reports,” he said.

The head of the Forum of Maritime and Fishery Communities (FMKP), Oki Lukito, said that the government had never been serious about tackling the issues of public water transportation, and that it had never met the people’s need for water transportation. Neglect and other violations were common among the officials responsible for managing marine transportation.

“Ironically, the crew of traditional sailboats or community-operated ferry services often did not have basic marine safety certificates,” said Oki. The certification’s prerequisite for completing middle school education was a major hurdle, considering that most crew members of traditional ferry services had only elementary school education.

(NSA/DIT/ETA/EDN)