Bakamla Alerts Sea Eel KN-406 To Help Evacuate Immigrants In Malaysia

Illustration/Indonesian Bakamla Ship/ANTARA

JAKARTA - The Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) of the Republic of Indonesia has alerted the KN Belut Laut-406 to assist the search and evacuation of 57 illegal immigrants from Indonesia whose boat sank in the waters of Selangor, Malaysia.

"We have deployed KN Belut Laut-406 to patrol around the border waters of Indonesia and Malaysia when there is an evacuation order," said Director of Marine Operations Laksma Bakamla Bambang Irawan as quoted by Antara from a written statement, Thursday, December 30.

So far, the Malaysian Search and Rescue (SAR) team has found 10 people dead, 4 crew members (ABK), and 8 people still missing, said Bambang explaining information from the results of coordination with Malaysian authorities.

He said Indonesia had deployed a joint SAR team consisting of Bakamla personnel and the National SAR Agency (Basarnas) to help search for missing immigrants and pick up survivors.

The pick-up will be carried out if Indonesian ships are allowed to enter Malaysian territory, precisely in the waters of Selangor.

"Currently, the bodies of the deceased have been handed over to the Sekinchan Police for a post-mortem examination," said Director of SAR Maritime Malaysia First Admiral Maritime Aminudin bin Abdul Rashid.

Regarding the incident, the Head of the Indonesian National Security Agency, Admiral TNI Aan Kurnia, ensured that the state was present to save its citizens.

“Under these conditions, the state must be present, so Bakamla continues to make efforts to negotiate. We hope that the good relations and coordination between Bakamla and MMEA (the Malaysian authorities, ed.) can produce results in evacuating the survivors and the dead," said Aan.

He said Bakamla and the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) of Selangor continued to coordinate to find Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) who drowned.