Nearly 100 rescued after Batam-Singapore ferry hits floating object
All 97 passengers on board, including 51 Singaporeans and seven crew members, are safe and accounted for, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The affected ferry is now parked at Nongsapura ferry terminal, says a company executive.
Batam Fast Ferry
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it received a report at about 9.45pm that an Indonesia-registered ferry “Sea Prince” had hit a floating object after leaving the Nongsapura ferry terminal in Batam.
It said at the time of the incident, the ferry was in Indonesian waters and heading towards Singapore with 97 passengers, including 51 Singaporeans and seven crew.
The ferry operator, Batamfast, immediately activated two ferries to transfer all the passengers to the Nongsapura ferry terminal. All the passengers are accounted for and the ferry is in a stable condition, MPA said.
Mr Chua Choon Leng, Passage Operations Manager at Batamfast, told Channel NewsAsia that they were first informed of the incident at 8pm, and deployed two vessels closer to the affected ferry but "the channel was quite challenging". As the vessels were too large, the company had to send smaller ones, or "sampans", to aid in the rescue, he added.
Asked about the long response time, Mr Chua said: "These were our best efforts", and added there were no injuries and all passengers were accounted for. The passengers arrived at Tanah Merah at 12.20am on Monday, he said.
One of the passengers, Ms Chella Ho, who was travelling with two other friends, told Channel NewsAsia that the ferry sank slowly in deep waters halfway between Batam and Singapore.
She said the ferry operator launched two inflatable rafts from the ferry for the passengers, but both also sank due to the overload. All the passengers wore life-saving jackets.
Ms Ho said some nearby vessels immediately came to their rescue and all passengers were saved. She said all passengers later arrived at Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal safely.
Contradicting Ms Ho's account and other news reports, Mr Chua said the affected ferry is "now parked at Nongsapura ferry terminal" and the company is investigating what happened.
When asked if passengers will be compensated, he said the company is meeting with its insurers on Monday afternoon.
Source : Channel News Asia
