An Indonesian ferry that caught fire last week, sending hundreds of people into the water and killing 42, was the center of another accident Sunday. The Levina 1 was anchored near Jakarta and in the process of being inspected by members of a safety panel and media, when its sudenly sank. Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.
Ferry rescue teams searching for missing journalist, investigators
JAKARTA (AP): Authorities were searching on Monday for three people still missing after the charred wreckage of an Indonesian ferry sank while investigators and journalists were aboard inspecting the damage from a fire last week.
The gutted wreckage had been anchored near Jakarta’s port when it suddenly listed and sank with 16 people on board, several of the journalists said. A cameraman was killed, while another and two police were missing. Four people were seriously injured.
“We all rushed for our own safety as the ship suddenly tilted and submerged,” Mardianto, a journalist who goes by one name, told his el-Shinta radio station. “I was on the third deck, andhad to jump into the water.”
The accident occurred hours after fishermen and navy officers recovered the bodies of 22 people killed in Thursday’s fire, raising that death toll to 42. The bodies included a teenager and a baby.
The Levina 1 was carrying at least 330 passengers when the fire broke out in a truck on the car deck, sending hundreds of people jumping into the sea, some clinging to young children.
More than 290 people were rescued in waters 80 kilometers north of Jakarta in Indonesia’s second maritime disaster in recent months. In December, a ferry sank in a storm, killing more than 400.
Divers searching the sunken ship found none of the victims from Sunday’s accident, said Dadang Arkuni, chief of the Jakarta Search and Rescue Agency. “The bodies usually float to the sea surface after six hours,” he said.
“It happened so quickly,” Lt. Col. Hendra Pakan told The Associated Press. “The ship almost completely disappeared into the sea.”
Eko Widodo, a MetroTV reporter, said the ferry started sinking about five minutes after journalists got on board. He said he saw the missing cameraman struggling to maintain his footing while holding onto his camera.
“We told him to throw the camera away but he did not want to,” Widodo told his TV station.
He said authorities provided life vests but the reporters chose not to wear them.
“It was our own mistake,” he said. “I nearly drowned … but eventually pulled my body up to the surface and then was helped by another man.”
