Two Days Lost, 4 Longboat Passengers Of Halmahera Residents Found Selamat

Residents of Wayaloar village, Obi Island, Halmahera Selaan Regency (Halsel), who had disappeared along with the long boat they were traveling in were finally found, Thursday (6/4/2023). (ANTARA)

TERNATE - Basarnas Search and Rescue Office stated that four residents of Wayaloar Village, Obi Island, South Halmahera Regency, North Maluku, who had disappeared along with their long boat traveling, were finally found safe.

"At around 00.40 WIT, the South Halmahera standby unit Rescue Team who arrived on Obi Island received information from the family that the victim had succeeded in contacting the family in Wayaloar Village and said they had succeeded in repairing the longboat engine," said Head of Ternate Basarnas Fathur Rahman, quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, April 6.

At around 01.15 WIT on Thursday morning, the Joint SAR Team and the Wayaloar Village community and the victim's family were dispatched to pick up the victim by long boat, because it was feared that the longboat engine would shut down again.

At around 03.40 WIT, the Joint Team and the victim arrived in Wayaloar Village safely and the victim was handed over to the family.

Fathur explained that according to the initial report received by Basarnas, the number of passengers was seven, but after the data collection, it was obtained information that only 4 people were above the longboat, namely Risman Molana (L), Ikra Saban (L), Geori Daeng (L) and Andika Darma (L).

As reported by Basarnas Ternate, on Tuesday, February 04, 2023 at around 15.00 WIT, 4 HPM Wayaloar gas station employees transported fuel using a viber body to Soligi Village to sell fuel.

At around 18.00 WIT, four employees of the HPM Wayaloar gas station moved from Soligi Village to Wayaloar Village, but it was suspected that in the middle of the trip (Tanjung Rijang) they were hit by waves until the engine died.

Then at around 21.00 WIT, Motoris Risman contacted HPM Gas Station Manager Wayaloar Budi and said they had been swept away under the waves and stated that their position was already in the waters of the Sea of Bobo Village, South Obi District.

However, a few moments later after being contacted again, they did not respond and then lost contact.

Previously, the Ternate Basarnas Search and Rescue Office conducted a longboat search with seven passengers reported missing contact on Wednesday in the waters of Wayaloar Island, South Halmahera Regency.