Indonesian Bulker and Fishing Boat Collide with 17 Feared Lost

[Brief] Indonesian authorities are continuing to search for 15 missing crew members lost after their fishing vessel collided with a bulk carrier in the East Java Sea late on April 3. Circumstances of the collision, which killed two sailors, were unknown.

The 29,664 dwt bulk carrier Habco Pioneer, which was sailing between Borneo and Java, collided with the fishing boat Barokah Jaya approximately 60 nautical miles north of Java. The fishing boat, which had a crew of 32 aboard, capsized. The Habco Pioneer also experienced engine failure after the collision when the fishing vessel’s nets became tangled on its propeller.

A joint SAR rescue team was dispatched and able to rescue 15 crew members from the fishing vessel who were transferred to a hospital on shore. Divers later recovered the bodies of two other crew members, one had become tangled in the fishing nets and drowned and another was trapped inside the fishing vessel. The 15 other crew members remain missing and are feared dead.

The rescue operation was expanding the search area to 33 nautical miles around the collision. Three dive teams were searching the area. The Indonesian authorities reported that a search of the fishing vessel had confirmed that no other crew members were trapped aboard the vessel.