The death toll of Indonesians aboard the ship that sunk in Malaysian waters on Dec 15 rose to 16 after the Malaysian authority found five more bodies, Indonesian Consulate General in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, stated.
The immigration office of the Indonesian Consulate General in Johor Bahru noted in a statement on Thursday that the ship, with 50 Indonesians aboard and en route from Tanjung Balai to Kota Tinggi, Johor, sank when it dropped off passengers.
However, the ship was hit by big waves due to bad weather.
As many as 14 passengers survived, while the rest are still missing.
Of the two women that survived, one was in critical condition and was treated at the Kota Tinggi Hospital.
The local police suspects that of the 12 surviving men, one was the perpetrator of human trafficking.
The Malaysian Army (ATM) has detained the survivors in Tanjung Sepang, Kota Tinggi, for further investigation and PCR tests.
The KJRI Johor Bahru task force has also been looking for the identities of all passengers aboard the ill-fated ship.
Meanwhile, Head of the East Lombok Manpower and Transmigration Office H. Supardi stated that among the victims, five were the residents of East Lombok District, West Nusa Tenggara.
“Based on data obtained from the Consulate General of Indonesia in Johor Baru, five of our migrant workers died,” he remarked.
Supardi expressed hope that the victims would be found and the bodies would be returned to their families for burial.
“Hopefully, we can get the data soon, so we can take further steps,” Supardi noted, saying that the SAR team is still continuing the search.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency of the Johor State Maritime Office noted in a statement that the bodies of 30 victims were found, while 14 survived the incident.
“Maritime Malaysia, along with other agencies, continued the second day of Search and Rescue operations to find the remaining 20 victims that had yet to be found,” he stated.
Deputy Director of the Johor State Maritime Enforcement Agency, Maritime Captain Simon Templer Lo Ak Tusa, stated today that the search operation will cover an area of 147 nautical miles at sea around the Tanjung Balau waters.
“The aerial search operation covers an area of 76.5 nautical miles using an AW139 aircraft,” he noted.
An operating base has been established at Tanjung Balau Beach at 8:50 a.m. Wednesday night near the incident site.
Thursday’s operation also involved 133 officers from the Malaysian Army Forces, Royal Malaysian Police, Marine Police Forces, Firefighter Service (JBPM), Malaysian Civil Defense Forces (APM) and the Malaysian Ministry of Health.
Source: Antara News