JAKARTA: Authorities have identified one of eight missing people from a boat carrying journalists covering the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java.
The police confirmed that one body found on Enggano Island in Bengkulu on Sept. 12 was a crew member from the missing boat that carried five photojournalists on a trip to cover Anak Krakatau’s eruption earlier this month.
“Based on DNA examination by the National Police’s [Disaster and Victim Identification] team, the remains were genetically identified as Surakman, the boat crew member,” Banten Police Chief Insp. Gen. Hengki said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
He added Surakman’s remains were scheduled to be transported from Bengkulu to Banten on Thursday.
The body was found on the shore of Enggano Island, Bengkulu’s outermost island off the province’s west coast, about 350 kilometres northwest of Anak Krakatau.
It was later taken to Bengkulu city for an autopsy and to be identified, with police comparing its DNA with reference samples from families of the eight missing people.
The missing persons are photojournalists Muhammad Bagus Khoirunas of state news agency Antara, Arie Basuki of Merdeka.com, Yudistiro Pranoto of iNews, Firdaus Wajidi of Turkey’s Anadolu Agency and freelance photographer Donal Husni.
They were accompanied by Surakman, captain Warta and tour guide Heriyanto.
The eight people departed by speedboat from Banten on Sept. 7 for a mission to capture pictures of the erupting Anak Krakatau, which for several days disrupted flights and blanketed several cities, including Jakarta, in volcanic ash.
The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) called off the search and rescue operation for the eight missing on Sept. 17, after the 10-day search yielded no sign of the rest of the group.
Responding to Surakman’s identification, the Indonesian Photojournalists Association (PFI) urged the Basarnas to reopen the joint search and rescue operation to look for the missing eight people, suggesting authorities comb the area around where the body was found as well as the waters between Enggano and the Sunda Strait.
Basarnas’ Banten office chief Al Amrad said rescuers had circulated notices in Bengkulu, Lampung and Banten to seek information on the missing boat and people from local residents as well as passing vessels.
“So far, there have been no signs or findings,” Al Amrad said at Wednesday’s briefing.
In the Java Sea, Basarnas was also involved in the search and rescue operation on the Virgo Transport 8 ferry, where rescuers retrieved nine bodies from the sunken and capsized vessel to the surface on Wednesday, the 11th day of the operation.
The bodies were then flown by helicopter to a hospital in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, for identification.
Findings on Wednesday brought the total death toll in the accident to 27, with only 14 victims having been identified.
Some 108 people are still missing, while 108 others were confirmed to survive.
Basarnas divers had previously managed to break cabin windows on Tuesday, but could not enter due to murky water and strong currents, posing challenges to speed up the evacuation process.
“We’ll continue our efforts to bring certainty to the families who are still waiting,” Basarnas chief Mohammad Syafii said on Wednesday.
Authorities had planned to right the ship to ease underwater search amid persistent strong currents that had shifted the wreck at least 4 km from its initial sinking spot.
But the boat remained capsized as of Wednesday.
The Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 243 people on a 20-hour voyage from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin when it capsized in bad weather early on Sept. 13.
Basarnas will extend the search operation until Sunday. - Jakarta Post/ANN
