DUBAI 3 August 2019: Indonesian rescuers were battling high tides and strong winds on Friday in a search for 31 people missing after a fishing boat sank in waters off Borneo island, killing at least four, Reuters has quoted official of the search and rescue agency as saying.
There were 37 people on board the vessel, four of whom had been found dead, while two had survived, agency spokesman Iman Saputra said by telephone.
“Rescue efforts will go on for the next four days. The obstacles are high tides and strong winds,” said Saputra, who is based in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province, near the site of the sinking.
The vessel had left the town of Pekalongan on Java island three days ago before running into trouble, Saputra said, adding that the agency had deployed 35 people to hunt for those missing.
Indonesian authorities on Friday urged people living near the coast to move to higher ground, after issuing a tsunami warning in the wake of a magnitude 7 earthquake off the islands of Sumatra and Java, Reuters has reported.
The Indonesian geophysics agency issued a tsunami warning after the quake, which the US Geological Survey said had a magnitude of 7 and hit at a depth of 59 km (37 miles), about 227 km (141 miles) from the city of Teluk Betung in the province of Lampung on Sumatra island.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said on its Twitter feed that residents on the Banten coast on Java island should “immediately evacuate to higher ground”.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, but strong tremors were felt in Jakarta, the capital, prompting people to run out of office buildings.