Seven more people rescued after boat sinks in Indonesia, 18 still missing

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing AFP and APP, reported on July 19 that Indonesian rescuers found seven additional survivors days after the KM Nurul Salsa sank south of Sulawesi, while at least 18 people remained missing. The passenger boat had 78 passengers and crew aboard when it suffered engine trouble and went down on Wednesday while travelling from Jampea Island to Benteng port on Selayar Island, South Sulawesi.

Five of the survivors — a man, three women and a seven-year-old girl — were spotted by a fishing boat near Matallang Island on Saturday evening and transferred to a search-and-rescue vessel. According to a local rescue official quoted in the report, they survived by using improvised flotation, including a fish trap, jerry cans and cork pieces tied together. The group told rescuers they had become separated from others by strong winds.

Two more survivors, a man and a woman, were found Sunday on an uninhabited island, the report said. Local media cited by Al Jazeera said 47 people had been rescued the day after the sinking, and one person was confirmed dead. The newly rescued passengers also told officials that four others from the vessel did not survive, while search teams continued looking for those unaccounted for.

The search involved five large ships, a reconnaissance plane and a helicopter. Al Jazeera noted the sinking happened about 43 nautical miles, or 79km, from Benteng port. The incident underscores persistent maritime safety risks in Indonesia, where boats are a routine transport link across the country’s thousands of islands and accidents have often been associated with weak safety enforcement and overcrowding.