Dutch tourists saved after boat sinks, Indonesia

By Maxime Zech on August 18, 2014 - 07:53

A tourist ferry boat sank off the waters by Sumbawa, on its way from Lombok to Komodo on Friday. After floating in the water for 40 hours, another thirteen tourists were saved. In total, 23 people have been saved, including five Dutch tourists. Two unidentified persons are still missing, De Volkskrant reports. 

The 13 tourists saved were in the water for 40 hours, clinging onto a life-boat actually meant to fit only four people. "We went into the boat by rotation", says one of the tourists. "Every time, eight people were packed together into the boat, five people hung on the side."

The boat sank after hitting some coral reef in the Bali sea. It took off from the island of Lombok on Thursday, for a trip to the island Komodo. According to the tourists, there was no communication device on board their boat. When bad weather ripped some planks from the boat's underside, in the engine room, and water started seeping into its cavity, there was nobody to call. "We could luckily just still get the swimming vests out of the room."

Twelve tourists decided to swim to a nearby volcanic island, leaving the other thirteen floating with the life-boat. According to De Volkskrant, ten of them, including one Dutch were pulled out of the water by fishermen on Saturday and a passing sailboat. Two tourists from this group are still missing.

Other than The Netherlands, there were tourists from Great Britain, Germany, Spain and New Zealand.

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