Chinese Citizen Yacht Ship Stranded In Riau Meranti Waters

Meranti Police personnel helped evacuate the Malaysian Yacht ship carried by Huang Zhigang (51) stranded and adrift around the waters of Tanjung Permai/ANTARA HO

PeKANBARU - The Yacht ship from Malaysia carried by foreign national from China Huang Zhigang (51) was stranded and adrift around the waters of Tanjung Permai, Rangsang District, Meranti Islands, Riau.

The ship with the name Happy Lobster was damaged by the engine on Monday (9/12).

Head of the Law Enforcement Unit of the Meranti Police and Air Force, Iptu Andi Purba, when receiving the information, immediately checked the scene.

"Police personnel together with Immigration colleagues went straight to the crime scene. Then we found a ship with a foreign flag called Happy Lobster and a foreigner from China as the captain named Huang Zhigang," Andi said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, December 10.

Andi said the ship had engine problems and was carried by the current to the waters of the Meranti Islands. From the information he received, the ship was about to sail from the Johor area to Langkawi Malaysia.

"Because there was an engine problem, so it was carried away by strong currents and the ship was stranded in the waters of the Meranti Islands," he said.

The foreign ship was then pulled using the Polairud fleet in the early hours of Tuesday (10/12) and is currently leaning at the Meranti Islands Police Airud Post for repairs.

Meanwhile, the captain of the ship when inspected only has a Chinese state passport and does not have an immigration permit elsewhere.

Even so, the Selatpanjang Immigration Office did not find any immigration violations because the captain was stranded in the Meranti Islands area in an emergency. According to him, this was purely due to an emergency that caused his ship to be stranded.

Head of the Section of Intel Dakim Immigration Selatpanjang, Rianto Hendro Santoso said, to the ship's captain, the Selatpanjang Immigration Party has issued a residence permit for visits in an emergency. This is as legality to live in Indonesian territory.

"Given a residence permit for the purpose of the person concerned making efforts to repair his ship and as soon as possible he can make his return trip by ship. Despite receiving a residence permit, the person concerned will remain under the supervision of the long Strait Immigration to avoid immigration violations," he said.*