Seven dead, 11 missing after a passenger ferry sinks in Bali

JAKARTA — On Wednesday, Jun 30, the Indonesian rescuer’s team reported 11 individuals missing after a passenger ferry sank off the coast of Bali in rough waves, killing seven people.

The KMP Yunicee ferry was transporting 57 crew members as well as passengers when it went down due to rough seas, near Gilimanuk port on the western end of the holiday island on Jun 29 Tuesday evening. Dozens of people were rescued from the ocean after the accident took place.

The ferry was said to have been travelling from Java Island over a small strait.

“We are still searching for the missing, “Gede Darmada, the commander of Bali’s search and rescue operation said as much, “Last night, the rescue was hampered by low visibility and high waves.”

In spite of the efforts by the authorities, 11 people remain missing on Wednesday, while officials announced that seven individuals that were in the ferry accident had died in the seas, bringing the total to seven.

“It was like a miracle to me,” a survivor of the accident, Sumari stated, “A wave hit, and the boat flipped to the left, and I was thrown up to the surface.”

The authorities are unclear about what caused the accident as Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, hence marine accidents are often around in this area. Many people travel by ferries and other vessels despite having very low safety regulations.

Many similar accidents have taken place earlier over time killing several people, for example, on Sumatra Island around 160 people drowned in 2018 after a ferry plummeted into the depths of one of the world’s deepest lakes.

Another took place back in 2009, in which more than 300 passengers were thought to have drowned when a ferry between Sulawesi and Borneo sank.

Divyanshi Singh is an intern at The Independent SG/ TISG.