66 Passengers Of KM Dharma Rucitra III Survived, Dozens of Vehicles Still Trapped On The Ship

AMLAPURA – baliprawara.com

Regarding the KM Dharma Rucitra III suspected of having a leak in the hull, the Padang Bali Water Police said there were several vehicles trapped inside the ship. Among them 10 units of large trucks, 3 units of medium trucks, 3 units of small vehicles, 8 units of tronton and 5 units of two-wheeled vehicles.

Head of Bali Search And Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Gede Darmada, S.E., M.AP., said that the KM Dharma Rucitra III carried 66 people, consisting of 43 passengers, 5 traders on board and 18 crew members. “All have been evacuated safe and immediately carry out health checks by the KP3 Padangbai Port,” Darmada explained.

The KM Dharma Rucitra III was suspected to have a leak in the hull causing the ship to tilt when it arrived at Padangbai Port, at 21.50 Local Time. The ship, weighing 1,444 gross tons, had previously departed from the Lembar Port, Lombok on Friday (June 12) at around 17:30 Local Time. Based on a chronological report received by the Denpasar Search and Reacue Office (Basarnas Bali), the provisional suspicion mentioned that the ship leaked at approximately 21:20 Local Time.

When maneuvering to dock, the ship’s position begins to tilt, then sea water began to enter the ship’s hull and when it was almost successful to dock, the ship experienced an engine failure, so the hull touched the bottom of the dock and tilted to the right.

Gede Darmada together with the Head of Operations Section of Bali Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) rushed to the scene and made sure that all passengers and crew members had been evacuated and saw the condition of the ship which was already 50% submerged. “The cause of the incident is still investigating by the authorities,” concluded Darmada. (MBP1)