SAR Team Stop Searches For Passengers Of Ships Falling In The Sampit Sea

Field Coordinator of Sampit SAR Post Ridwan. (ANTARA/Devita Maulina)

The joint SAR team stopped the search for a passenger KM Dharma Ferry VI who allegedly fell into the sea around the mouth of the Mentaya River to Sampit Harbor, East Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan.

"Regarding the search for the ship's passengers, we have stopped on Monday. However, we are still monitoring if there are signs that lead to the discovery of the victim, then the SAR operation will resume," said Sampit SAR Post Field Coordinator Ridwan in Sampit, Antara, Wednesday, April 23.

The search has been carried out since the receipt of information that a passenger on the ship allegedly fell into the sea on April 15, 2025. The victim is known as Riski Adi Saputro (29) from Tulungagung Regency.

This search involved a joint SAR team consisting of the Sampit SAR Post, East Kotawaringin BPBD, Indonesian Navy (Posbinpotmar Samuda), Polairud, Sampit and Tagana Class III KSOPs.

The search is carried out every day for 6-7 hours per day with the furthest search radius reaching seven miles from the reported location. However, until the seventh day the search effort was fruitless.

In accordance with Law Number 29 of 2014 concerning Search and Rescue, if entering the seventh day and there are no signs that the victim was found and deemed ineffective, the SAR operation is stopped.

"In addition to exploring the specified set of areas, we also informed fishermen and ships anchored around the search area, but there were no signs of finding victims, so yesterday around 4 pm our search was stopped," he explained.

Ridwan admitted that in this SAR operation there were a number of obstacles faced, ranging from a wider set of areas, not comparable to limited SAR equipment to changing weather conditions, even so his party had made optimal efforts.

Based on his experience, when a person sinks, especially adults, usually within 30-36 hours the victim's body will appear to the surface or float.

This happens because of the decay process that causes gas production in the body and gas, which makes the body float.

Then when the gas has fully come out of the body or bursts, the body will sink again and it will not appear again, so it is likely to be found to be difficult.

In addition to occurring naturally, the process of releasing this gas can be influenced by external factors, such as injuries to the body or due to the surrounding animals.

"The process of removing gas from the body is different, but usually if there is a wound, the process will be faster. So whether it's long or not floating depends on the victim's body," said Ridwan.