4 Days No Results, Search For 7 PMI Shipwrecks In Nongsa Batam Waters Postponed Due To Bad Weather

A joint team searches for seven missing PMIs in the waters of Nongsa, Batam City (ANTARA/HO-Humas SAR Tanjung Pinang)

BATAM - The search for seven Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) bound for Malaysia, whose ship sank in the waters of Nongsa, Batam was temporarily suspended due to bad weather.

"This morning at around 06.00 WIB we had time to move, but an hour later the weather suddenly started to rain so we had to temporarily stop the movement," said Head of the Tanjung Pinang SAR Office, Slamet Riyadi in Batam, Riau Islands, Antara, Monday, June 20.

Slamet said that currently his party and the TNI and Polri Team are still on standby at the post around the coast near the location of the sinking of the seven PMIs. “We are still anchoring the ship due to strong currents, bad weather and low tide. We will inform you of the movement again," he said.

The search for seven PMIs destined for Malaysia, whose ships sank in the waters of Nongsa, Batam, has been carried out for four days and has not yielded any results. "Until now, no search results have been found," he said.

The weather in Batam City from morning until noon was still hit by heavy rain and strong winds from this morning until this afternoon. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Hang Nadim Batam estimates that this bad weather will continue until the afternoon.

It was previously reported that the seven missing PMIs were members of the 30 PMI whose ship sank in the waters of Nongsa, Batam.

23 PMIs have been rescued and are currently being handled by the Indonesian Navy and Riau Islands BP2MI.

The Commander of Lanal Batam, Marine Colonel (KH) Farid Ma'ruf, stated that his party and other rescue teams said they were still looking for information on the seven other victims who were still in the search process.

"At this time, we still don't know the identities of the other seven victims. We are still investigating their identities," he said in Batam, Riau Islands, last Friday.