PEKANBARU: At least 11 people drowned in western Indonesia after a passenger boat with dozens onboard capsized.
Rescuers saved 62 people and found the bodies of children and women after the accident happened off the coast of western Riau province, local search and rescue agency official Kukuh Widodo said.
“The capsized boat was carrying 74 people in total. Sixty-two survived the incident, while 11 drowned with one still missing,” Pekanbaru national search and rescue agency spokesperson Widodo said Friday.
The speedboat bound in the Riau islands
The Riau islands-bound speedboat capsized shortly after leaving Tembilahan port, 198 kilometres away in a neighbouring province. An official said the cause of the accident was still being investigated. He said that the number of missing could grow as the precise number of passengers aboard the Evelyn Calista-01 wasn’t confirmed.
Marine accidents are a regular feature in Indonesia, the Southeast Asian archipelago of around 17,000 islands, due to slack safety standards. Over 150 people drowned in 2018 when a ferry sank in one of the world’s deepest lakes on Sumatra Island.
