Two Bodies Of The Lost Tugboat Crew In Pegatan Finally Found

Two bodies were found in the waters of Ujung Pandaran Village, Teluk Sampit District, East Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan, on Friday, October 10, confirmed to be victims of the tugboat sinking incident in Pegatan waters, Katingan Regency, on Tuesday, October 7.

"The body has been taken to Dr. Murjani Sampit Hospital for a post-mortem and knows its identity," said Head of the Central Kalimantan Police's Binopsnal Kompol Masharsono in Sampit, as reported by ANTARA, Saturday.

The two bodies are known to be Pujianto who was found on Friday morning and Agus Sugianto (54) who was found on Friday afternoon.

Pujito was found about 2.3 miles from the shoreline or about 28.65 miles from the location of the sinking ship. Meanwhile, Agus was found 28,54 NM to the northwest, about 447 meters from the location where Pujito's body was found.

Masharsono said that a cargoless tugboat departed from Sampit to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan on Monday (6/10). The ship was manned by Ode Zulfikar as captain, as well as three crew members, namely Pujianto, Sugianto and Cahyo.

Tuesday (7/10) at around 01.00 WIB, the captain of the ship felt strangeness or anomalies on the ship so the captain ordered the helmsman and others to check the engine room of the ship.

When checked, it turned out that the engine room was filled with water. This was immediately reported to the captain and captain ordered to suck the water using an alkon machine but it was not able to.

The captain then ordered to change the direction of the ship towards Pegatan, Katingan Regency, which is considered the closest land. Unfortunately, they did not have time to reach the beach, at around 02.00 WIB around 3 nautical miles of Pegatan estuary, the tugboat sank.

Before the ship sank, the captain ordered all the crew to use safety equipment and board the liferaft or emergency raft. There were two people who had boarded the liferaft, while the other two people did not get on. Allegedly due to the waves, they were all separated.

"Only one person was found, namely the captain. He was found safe by fishermen at around 08.00 WIB, then taken to Pegatan and reported to the Ditpolairud Unit Headquarters at Pegatan and taken to the puskesmas for treatment," said Masharsono.

Information obtained from the captain of the ship, he said, indicated that the ship had a leak so that water entered and caused the ship to sink.

"Nakhoda is being asked for further information. The search was also carried out by a joint team against one other person," said Masharsono.

Meanwhile, the Sampit Port Authority and Harbormaster Office (KSOP) has not been able to provide further information. This is because there are no reports that the ship departed from Sampit.

KSOP Sampit coordinated with the police regarding the incident. KSOP also took steps for safety, namely giving a sign at the location where the ship sank so that the ship's wreck would not endanger other passing ships.

"The Pegatan waters are still in the Sampit KSOP working area. We are also helping to search for victims and we are helping SAR. One car has been dispatched," said Baharudin from the Sampit KSOP Public Relations Officer.