TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Board of Directors of the state shipping company PT Pelni has apologised on behalf of the crew of KM Kelimutu, which has been frequently been spotted dumping rubbish and waste materials from the ship into the sea.
The apology was relayed by the PT Pelni's Manager for Communications and Interdepartmental Affairs, Akhmad Sujadi, through a press release received by Tempo on Friday, April 17, 2015. "We promis to conduct an investigation into this alleged dumping of trash by the crew of KM Kelimutu into the sea," said Sujadi in the release.
Previous, it was reported that PT Pelni-owned KM Kelimutu, was seen dumping its waste materials into the sea on Thursday, April 16, 2015 - an action which caused a protest led by the Central Sulawesi's Environmental Conservation Community, wherein they took over the ship on the dame day and demanded that the crew to cease dumping rubbish from aboard the vessel into the water.
Teten Sirgiawan, the coordinator of the Central Sulawesi's EnvironMental Conservation Community, said that the crews of KM Kelimutu were caught redhanded by members of his organisation while they were dumping eight plastic trash bags into the sea. "They had planned to throw out more so much more into the water, but they ceased to do so after our members came aboard the ship to protest," he said.
According to Sujadi, PT Pelni's standard operating procedures does not allow the dumping of rubbish overboard the vessel - instead, trashes from aboard the vessel are supposed to be collected on Deck Four. "Once the ship docks into port, then all trashes would be unloaded off the vessel to be thrown away at rubbish collection sites," finished Sujadi.
MUHAMMAD YUNUS | ISTI
