Mulling Manifes KM Cantika After Burning, KSOP: Examination Of Operator Duties

Representative from KSOP Tenau Kupang, Toni (right) in a press conference with a number of agencies related to the fire (KM) Cantika 77. (Between-Aloysius)

The Office of Harbormaster and Port Authority (KSOP) Tenau Kupang stated that the inspection of the number of passengers on the Fast Motor Ship (KM) Cantika 77 that caught fire in the waters of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) was the duty of the ship's operator.

"Our task (KSOP) is to receive reports from operators. We are not a cecker (checker) because it was carried out by officers from the operator," said KSOP Tenau Kupang Representative, Toni, to reporters in Kupang, NTT, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, October 26.

He said this was in response to questions about the examination of the number of fast passengers in Cantika 77, which previously departed until they experienced a fire in the waters of NTT, precisely in the Timor Island area.

He explained that before the ship was dispatched, his party received reports from the operator through an inaportnet system related to the passenger manifest as many as 176 people.

However, he said, the reality in the field was found that the number of victims exceeded the data on the number of passengers in the manifest reported to KSOP Tenau Kupang.

He said the number of ship passengers that exceeded the manifest was not known to Kupang KSOP because the inspection was carried out by officers from the ship operator.

KSOP, he said, is tasked with examining ship safety and security aspects to prevent things such as a buildup of passengers entering from the terminal to the ship.

"We didn't do the cecker because it's not our job anymore to deck in front of the ship. There are officers from the operator," said Toni.

Previously, the passenger ship KM Cantika Express 77 caught fire on Monday, October 24 in the waters of Timor Island, near Naikliu, Kupang Regency, during a voyage from Kupang-Alor.

Based on a report from the Kupang Class A Search and Rescue Office, the number of victims who had been successfully evacuated as of Wednesday, October 26 morning, was 320 people, of whom 18 people were declared dead.