JAKARTA (Reuters) – Two fishermen have died and 15 were still missing on Sunday after their boat capsized following a collision with a bulk carrier in the Java Sea, Indonesian authorities said.
Other members of the 32-person crew on the Barokah Jaya fishing boat were evacuated and taken to hospital after Saturday’s crash with the Habco Pioneer bulk carrier.
Both vessels are Indonesian-flagged.
One of the victims’ corpses was found stuck in a fishing net and the other in the vessel, 50 metres from the Habco Pioneer, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency Basarnas said.
Hundreds of rescuers – including divers – were scouring the waters, said Deden Ridwansah, head of Basarnas’ local Bandung office, in a statement on the agency’s Instagram.
There were no reports of casualties on the 30,000-tonne capacity Habco Pioneer, which is owned by tugboats and barges company PT Habco Primatama.
Authorities did not give a reason for the collision.
(Reporting by Tabita Diela; Writing by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Andrew Cawthorne)
