Liputan6.com, Kupang - At least 18 people died after the KM Cantika Express 77 boat was on fire in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The boat was burned on Monday afternoon (24/10).
According to the official report, the boat set off from Tenau Port in Kupang at 13.30 in the afternoon. The fire incident took place between Kera Island and Timor Island on the Naikliu water in Kupang Regency.
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The boat reportedly had 176 passengers, but the rescue team saved over 300 people. That is because the boat did not give the complete report about the passengers.
Water transportation is known to be popular for the citizens in Kupang Port authority in Kupang said it's the responsibility of the boat operator to give the number of the passengers.
"Our duty is to receive a report from the operator. We are not the checkers because that duty is done by the officials from the operator," said the representative of port authority in Kupang.
Before the boat was set off, the port authority received the report from the inaportnet system that there were 176 passengers.
The rescue authority in Kupang said there were 320 people rescued on Wednesday morning (26/10/2022). Some bodies were found afloat in the sea hours after the fire.
The police, military, and disaster management team work together in the evacuation process which was finished two days after the incident.
Meanwhile, the survivors also felt traumatized that they refused to go with water transportation when they had to be evacuated to the capital Kupang. The authority later brought them through land transportation.
Not Overcapacity
The Ministry of Transportation stated that the KM Cantika Express 77 boat was not exceeding its capacity despite the untruthful report of their passengers. The boat's capacity is over 400 passengers.
"Cantik 77 Boat has the capacity of 402 people, therefore it can be ascertained that it was not exceeding capacity," said Hendrik Kurnia, the head of the Harbormaster and Port Authority (KSOP) Class II Kupang.
Hendrik Kurnia also pointed out that it was a fire incident, and not a sinking incident.
KSOP is an unit under the Ministry of Transportation.
Furthermore, Hendrik Kurnia announced the evacuation was done. The evacuation finished earlier. Previously, the process was predicted to last for a week.
Currently, the authority is focusing to help the passengers' well-being, including the trauma.
"For the surviving passengers, we are focusing to re-examine their health. That must be done because there are things that can happen to the passengers post-accident, including injuries and trauma," said Hendrik.
Arief Rahman Hakim contributed to this report.
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