Tourist Boat Engine Dies In The Middle Of The Sea, 26 Foreign Tourist Passengers Successfully Evacuated SAR . Team

The SAR team evacuated 26 foreign and domestic tourists from the AL II KAI GT 171 ship. (photo: dok.antara)

JAKARTA - Passengers on a tour boat that experienced an engine failure in the Lombok Strait, West Nusa Tenggara, Sunday, June 5, were successfully evacuated. The search and rescue (SAR) team managed to rescue 26 foreign and domestic tourists.

"Some of the victims are foreign nationals from India, Germany, Spain, Australia, the United States, Italy and from Indonesia," said Head of the Mataram SAR Office, Nanang Sigit PH, in Mataram, Sunday, June 5.

He said that his party received a report from the Chairman of the Karya Bahari Cooperative, on Saturday, June 4, at 20.48 WITA, regarding a ship named AL II KAI GT 171 which experienced an engine failure in the sea waters of the Lombok Strait.

"We received a request for evacuation of 26 people, 11 crew members and the rest were passengers," he said.

Nanang said the AL II KAI GT 171 ship which departed from Benoa Harbor, Bali, to Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, had experienced engine problems in the Lombok Strait waters, since Saturday, June 4.

The Mataram SAR office then dispatched personnel from Lembar Harbor, West Lombok Regency, using the Rescue Boat 220 Mataram to evacuate.

"The distance to the ship's location is 21.75 nautical miles, according to the coordinates given by the captain of the ship," he said.

The SAR team managed to find the AL II KAI GT 171 ship, on Sunday 5 June at around 00.05 WITA. The ship was found in the western waters of Teluk Nara, North Lombok Regency, due to being carried away by currents to the south. The condition is still able to sail at low speed.

Nanang added that the ship managed to anchor at the specified location (Nara Bay) at 02.45 WITA. Everyone was evacuated safely.

"Because it is close, we will direct it to Nara Bay with supervision until it is certain that the position is safe," he said, as quoted by Antara.