Speedboat Capsizes off Mentawai Islands: 11 Missing, 7 Rescued Amid Sudden Storm

Prime Highlights

18-boat was overturned off Mentawai Islands of West Sumatra after it ran aground in unusual bad weather.
Seven were rescued; rescue operations are continuing for the 11 who went missing.

Key Facts

Missing are 10 out of the local government representatives, three children, and one parliamentarian.
Indonesia is regularly struck by sea accidents because of bad weather and breach of safety.

Key Background

There was a catastrophic capsizing of a ship off Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands on Monday when an 18-man speed boat capsized in the wake of abrupt, torrential weather off the Sipora Strait. The speed boat was departing Sikakap and heading to Tuapejat when it was surprised by torrential rain and ginormous waves. The weather abruptly worsened and took the small ship by surprise, causing it to capsize.

Seven people, two of them crew members, were rescued by local authorities and fishermen after the accident. But 11 others, three of them children, a local member of parliament, and some other government officials, were missing. The survivors said the boat caught fire instantly and did not give them sufficient time to respond or even take remedial actions.

Rescue and search operations were on location in no time after the accident, dispatching an entire armada of boats and negotiating with fishermen and coastal dwellers. The rescue effort has been marred by continued rains, tempestuous weather, and turbulent seas. The rescue effort is in progress full blast, with the rescuers scouring the strait and waters around the area for any hint of the missing.

This was just one of several accidents in Indonesia, ship accidents a common occurrence in the country with its extensive archipelago of over 17,000 islands. Maritime safety regulations are weakly enforced, vessels are aging, and weather rapidly changes, some of the conditions that heavily contribute to the accident rate. There was a second ferry tragedy off Bali during the month and it killed 18 people with 17 still missing. They call for greater surveillance, advanced technology, and better weather forecasting to help make seas safer for travel in the nation.