The Motorboat Eno Karangbakar In The Aru Sea, Evakuari SAR 98 Passengers

Ship Passenger Evacuation (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The joint search and rescue team (SAR) in Aru Islands Regency, Maluku, managed to evacuate 98 passengers and crew of the Motor Eno Karang ship who experienced a fire accident in the engine room while in the Aru Sea.

"The ill-fated ship reportedly sailed from Dobo Harbor, the capital city of Aru Islands Regency to Jelia Village on Friday, September 30, at around 12.00 WIT," said Head of the Ambon SAR Office, Mustari in Ambon, quoted from ANTARA, Saturday, October 1.

According to him, this information was received by the Ambon SAR Office Control Center from the Coordinator of the Aru Islands SAR Alert Unit Post which stated that KM Eno Karang had a disaster around the waters of Tabarfange Island.

Knowing this information, at 14.00 WIT, one Rescue Team of the Aru Islands SAR Alert Unit and elements of the potential for SAR were dispatched to the scene of the incident to carry out SAR operations.

"The location of the incident is at the estimated coordinates of 6° 7' 44.3" S - 133° 58' 56.3" E, a distance of approximately 28.97 Nm, and a heading of 214.38° southwest of Dobo City," he said.

After traveling from Dobo Port, the joint SAR team managed to arrive at the accident site and immediately evacuated all passengers.

"A total of 98 passengers, KM Eno Karang, were successfully evacuated safely to the Karaweira KMP and then at 16.40 WIT KMP Karweira continued their journey to Jelia Village, South Aru District," explained Mustari.

Meanwhile, at 17.00 WIT, KM Eno Karang, who was unable to continue his journey, was successfully withdrawn to Dobo City using the Tarangan KN belonging to the Aru Islands Transportation Service.

"According to one of the crew members, on their way to the waters of Tabarfange, there was a short circuit in the ship's engine blower cable which caused a fire inside the engine room," said Mustari.

Luckily before the fire spread more widely, the crew managed to extinguish it, and the incident caused all passengers to panic and scream because they saw the amount of black smoke coming out of the engine room.

"We urge the ship's owners and captains and crew members to always be vigilant and check the condition of the ship before leaving the pier so that the safety and comfort of passengers on the voyage is also guaranteed," he said.