Capsized Boat in Lake Toba was Privately Owned, said Minister

According to the Ministry of Transportation, the capsized KM Sinar Bangun boat that allegedly violated its capacity limits at Indonesia’s infamous Lake Toba in North Sumatra on Monday is believed to be owned and managed by the private sector.

“Yes, the boat is privately owned. However, I have yet to receive information of the company that owns it,” said the Ministry’s Secretary General Djoko Sasono after attending the press conference with Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and Chief of the national search and rescue agency (Basarnas) Chief Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Syaugi on Wednesday, June 20.

The KM Sinar Bangun boat was 17.44 meters-long and 4.8 meters-wide and was originally supposed to only accommodate 43 passengers including three crew members. “We are still collecting the data of the people that boarded the boat,” said Djoko.

Physically, the boat is similar to numerous other ferry boats that is equipped with two decks constructed of wooden materials and 40 centimeter-high metal guardrails surrounding its vicinity.

As previously reported, the incident happened after the KM Sinar Bangun departed at 17:15 Indonesian Western Time (WIB) from the port of Simanindo and headed to the Tiga Ras harbor in Simalungun. The current assessment of the accident suggests that the boat capsized as a result of two crucial factors.

The first factor in the accident was that the KM Sinar Bangun was significantly over capacity and the second is that the boat was strongly believed to have ignored the weather alert announced by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) before the boat departed from the port.

UP until this moment, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) reported four deaths while 18 others survived. However, the number does not add up to the boat’s total capacity of 43 passengers, let alone its true capacity at the time of the tragic incident.

The Transportation Ministry followed up the incident by seizing the operations of 40 similar ferry boats that operates daily at Lake Toba to conduct a thorough audit.

courtasy : Tempo.co
photo : elshinta.com

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