Ship Containing Dutch Foreigners Sinks in Haria Sea Waters, Maluku, 1 Missing and 6 Safe

Illustration of SAR rescue (ANTARA)

AMBON - A ship carrying seven passengers departing from Molana Island for Haria Village, Central Maluku, capsized in the waters of the Haria Sea at around 16.30 p.m. Eastern Indonesian Time (WIT), last Saturday.

Information about the marine accident was received by the Ambon Basarnas Comm Center from residents at around 10.55 WIT this Sunday morning. Moving quickly, a Joint SAR Team was deployed to the location of the incident to carry out SAR Operations at coordinates 3°36'33.51" S - 128°36'17.40" E, distance -+ 17.52 Nm, and Heading 94.39° East from Ambon Search and Rescue (SAR) Office," said Arif Anwar.

"Efforts to search for victims by the joint team, for a day in the sea waters of Haria Village, Central Maluku Regency, have not found any signs of a victim," said the Head of Basarnas Ambon, Muhammad Arif Anwar, in a release on Sunday, August 5.

"Six passengers managed to save themselves by swimming to the shore, and one victim is still being searched by a joint team," he said.

It is known that the Katinting boat was carrying seven passengers and four of them were Dutch foreign nationals (WNA). The boat traveled to Haria Island, Central Maluku, Maluku.

The passengers, who were Dutch foreigners, were Daan Orbons (21), Gaia Annelee De Koning (21), Cornelis Lafeber (65), and Thom Luuk Stephan Van Der Lely (20). Meanwhile, three passengers from Maluku, namely, Souisa (60), Nurul Hidayah Wattiheluw (30) and one still being sought, namely David Matheos Amahorseja (49).

For the time being, the search operation carried out by the joint SAR team from Basarnas Ambon, Polairud Polda Maluku, Lantamal IX Ambon, and the local community has been stopped. The search operation will be carried out again Monday (6/11/2023) morning.