19 Victims Of The Ladang Pertiwi KM Ship Which Sank In The Makassar Strait Are Still Being Sought

The head of the South Sulawesi Basarnas, Djunaidi (right) with the ranks of the Indonesian Navy and TNI AD officials, the police and representatives of the South Sulawesi Provincial Government (Pemprov)/ANTARA

MAKASSAR - The Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) of South Sulawesi, has again updated the data on the number of passengers of KM Ladang Pertiwi 2 who drowned in Makassar Strait waters.

"The temporary number that we have data is 50 passengers and crew members. How (to increase), it's from the village head himself, reporting residents who have not returned," said Head of the South Sulawesi Basarnas, Djunaidi during a press conference aboard the State Ship (KN) SAR Kamajaya , Container Port, Makassar, South Sulawesi, reported by Antara, Tuesday, May 31.

Initially, the Head of Pammas Village, Muhammad Basit, said that 51 residents of Pamantauang Island were on the wooden boat. However, later after the name was checked again there was a double.

"Basarnas has checked the names, it turns out that there is one double name, namely Supriadi (the captain), so we predict that the number of temporary 50 people," said Djunaidi.

If the data on the number of passengers who have survived so far are 31 people, then the number of victims who are still being searched is 19 people.

"So what we are looking for now is the remaining 19 people, that is the development of data from the village head, captain and ship owner. Meanwhile we are still monitoring that there are still families who have not arrived on the island," he said.

Based on previous data, the number of passengers on the ship was 42 passengers, including the captain and crew of the ship. So far, 31 people have survived, and 11 others are still being searched.

The Commander of the Indonesian Navy's Patrol Unit (Dansatrol), Marine Colonel (P) Anis Latif, on that occasion added, related to the sinking of the KM Ladang Pertiwi 2 ship, the Indonesian Navy is fully supported by being ready to assist in the search and evacuation of the victims.

"We deployed not only from Lantamal itself, but also after reporting the existing situation. The top command responded and dispatched four KRIs and two Patmals, one on standby, one operation," said Marine Colonel Anis to reporters.

As for the KRI elements involved, he said, such as KRI Malahayati, KRI Sultan Hasanuddin, Karimandau, Purarupa which happened to be operating in the Sulawesi region and were led directly by the Commander of the Marine Combat Group of Koarmada II.

Regarding the search for missing victims, it has been expanded from 50-60 nautical miles (NM) from the area where the sunken ship was found, including deploying marine patrols to carry out patrols in the search sector area.