MV Indo Swept To papua New Guinea Waters

Jayapura, Papua, Feb 19 (Antara) - The MV Indo Lautan Sakti that tossed around the Torasi River has been swept away to Papua New Guinea waters after the steer was broken, according to Search and Rescue team in Merauke, Papua Province. "The vessel has entered Papua New Guinea waters after being swept away by the waves," stated the Public Relation Staff of Merauke SAR team, Darmawan, here on Wednesday. He added that the Merauke SAR team has coordinated with SAR headquarter and other related institutions to proceed with evacuation efforts. "We are coordinating with SAR Headquarter to conduct evacuation effort along with AMSA of Australia," Darmawan added. The Merauke SAR team will inform people about the condition of the MV Indo Lautan Sakti immediatey. Previously on Tuesday, the SAR team had evacuated the crew and passengers of the ship that was spotted near the border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. "The Merauke SAR team and Navy Main Base XI has deployed 22 personnel and departed at 3:30 p.m., local time to the last check point in 09.17.27 S - 140.52.58 E coordinate. However, the team returned to the base due to bad weather in the area," Darmawan added. The Merakue regional SAR team had received information relating to the MV Indo Lautan Sakti that had been tossing around near the border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea from the Navy Main Base XI at 3 p.m. There are at least 26 people on board the ship including the crew and passengers. "We are not sure yet whether all the 26 persons are part of the crew or passengers. All we need to do is to evacuate them and save the victims," Darmawan explained.