Two British guests were among 17 people who had to be rescued after a dive liveaboard sank in Raja Ampat, Indonesia in the early hours of Wednesday, 4 February.
The Putri Papua, a 26m phinisi-style timber motor schooner, was on a trip from Sorong to Misool. There were nine guests and eight crew onboard when the vessel sank, reportedly overcome by strong waves and winds during the night.
According to the captain, Ade Susila, the engine-room had flooded and the engines failed before the vessel eventually capsized.
The British divers were named as Thomas Erskine and Frances Young, and the other guests comprised Slovakian and Austrian couples and three Indonesians. The boat, used year-round on diving and snorkelling itineraries, was part of the well-established Jakarta-based Grand Komodo fleet.
At 5.47am the Putri Papua used WhatsApp to alert an Indonesian Navy post at Waisai, the capital of Raja Ampat Regency. The post in turn informed Fleet Command III, which covers eastern Indonesia.
A search and rescue team was dispatched but when the naval patrol boat KRI Mata Bongsang 873 reached the scene at around 7.20am it initially had difficulty locating the site of the already submerged Putri Papua.
It took until 8am to find and rescue the survivors, who had been evacuated onto life-rafts. Some of the guests were said to have been traumatised by their experience, a Slovakian referring to it as “horror in the night”, but the only reported physical injuries to two of the crew were said to have been minor.
The survivors were brought back to Sorong, four hours away, and taken to Oetoyo Sorong Naval Hospital for medical checks and treatment. The overseas visitors were due to be repatriated as soon as examinations and documentation procedures had been completed.
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