Indonesian rescuers launched a search operation on Wednesday ( Mar 13 ) for at least 22 missing fishermen in central Indonesia after their boat flipped over the weekend, killing two people, according to officials.
The ship with at least 35 people on board capsized on Saturday in shallow lakes off the distant Selayar Islands in South Sulawesi state, leaving 11 people stranded on two different islands after floating in the water for three weeks.
According to the localized search and rescue organization, their boat capsized in poor weather during Indonesia’s rainy season.
According to local government established Andi Caco Ramas, who spoke to AFP on Wednesday,” They had been floating in the water for three days, and they were being carried away by the present to Selayar waterways.”
On distinct territories, the two sufferers were discovered.
On March 3, the fishing vessel traveled to Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara state from a dock in North Jakarta.
The army and rescue workers were assisting with the research efforts.
Local search and rescue national Andi Raswan told AFP,” The combined group will conduct a search and rescue operation and they have departed… this day.
He claimed it would take volunteers five hours to arrive at the area.
Local anglers spotted the survivors and called the authorities, according to state news agency Antara, who located them.
Ramas reported that 35 persons were on the ship, 22 of whom were missing, while the rescue organization reported a higher death toll of 37 and 24 of whom were missing.
The number of real passengers on a ship may vary from the present in Indonesia frequently.
Authorities said poor weather had hampered their efforts despite receiving reports about the event early on Tuesday.
According to weak health standards, marine accidents are frequent in Indonesia, a region of around 17, 000 archipelago in Southeast Asia.
More than 150 persons perished in 2018, according to a ferry’s sank in one of Sumatra’s deepest lake in 2018.