Extreme Depth of Lake Toba Hampering Sunken Ship`s Evacuation
30 June 2018 11:34 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Geology expert Gagarin Sembiring said that the characteristic of Lake Toba was one of the factors that caused the KM Sinar Bangun to capsize.
“The incident was caused by human error and meteorology factor,” said Gagarin, who is also the North Sumatra Regional Board’s Indonesian Geologist Association on Friday, June 29.
According to Gagarin, the mid-sized ferry boat had sunk into an area in the vicinity of the Haranggol Caldera, which he explained is one of the deepest areas in Lake Toba.
The caldera, he said, was formed in the Northern area of the lake after the violent eruption of Mount Toba nearly 500,000 years ago. According to some research, the eruption that formed the Haranggol caldera is considered to be the second largest eruption that has ever happened.
Read: Capsized Ferry Boat in Lake Toba Found
Mount Toba’s first volcanic eruption is believed to have happened around 850,000 years ago, which formed the Porsea Caldera and formed crater at the area of Porsea and Sibaganding. The mountain’s third eruption is said to have taken place 74,000 years prior, which eventually formed the Toba caldera after a supervolcanic eruption.
Furthermore, Gagarin gave an explanation of why the bodies of the boat’s passengers have yet to be seen floating on the lake’s surface. He theorized that with Lake Toba’s 500-meter depth, human bodies would need more time to float to the surface.
Even though the lake has no current, the emergence of the victims cannot be entirely predicted, especially considering the lack of reference data on a simulation of how fast an object travels down and upwards beneath Lake Toba’s surface.
“We cannot pin our hopes on finding the victims floating on the lake’s surface,” said Gagarin.
Up to Friday, June 29, the evacuation process of the capsized KM Sinar Bangun ferry boat entered its twelfth day. The search and rescue team has already identified the location of the sunken boat with the help of an ROV that was sent nearly to the bottom of Lake Toba.
Iil Askar Monza
