A joint search and rescue (SAR) team searches the location of the sunken Pengayoman IV ship of the Law and Human Rights Ministry in the waters of Cilacap, Central Java, Friday, September 17, 2021. ANTARA PHOTO/Idhad Zakaria
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Law and Human Rights Ministry confirmed that its Pengayoman IV ship sank in the waters off Nusakambangan this morning, September 17. The ship is an official transportation mode of the Nusakambangan prison island, Cilacap, Central Java.
“Circulating information about the Pengayoman IV ship that sank in [the waters off] Nusakambangan is true,” said the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Head of Public Relations, Tubagus Erif Faturahman, on Friday, September 17.
Erif said the ship departed from the Wijayapura pier at 9 a.m. local time, carrying two project trucks and a number of prison officers. The ship drowned while en route to Sodong Pier after being hit by strong winds and big waves. The ship was swept away by the current to the middle of the strait.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry immediately mobilized other Pengayoman and Compreng ships to evacuate the ship. A total of six people were successfully evacuated, but two of them—a prison officer and a project worker—died.
