Five Indonesian Seafarers to Be Repatriated from Malaysia After Boat Sinks

TheIndonesia.co - Five Indonesian seafarers from Riau Islands will be repatriated from Malaysia after authorities completed investigation related to the disaster that led them to arrive in Malaysia.

A team from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur announced that the seafarers will be repatriated after investigation concluded that they were not guilty.

“Repatriation is planned after a 14-day investigation was conducted by APMM [Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency] Terengganu, and the result was announced on March 25 that they were found not guilty by prosecutors and ordered to return to their home country,” coordinator for information, socio, and culture at the Embassy Yoshi Iskandar said on Tuesday, March 29, as reported by Antara.

Earlier this month, on March 4, these Indonesian fishermen went to the sea, and after two days, their boat sunk due to bad weather.

Iskandar said they held onto empty drums for another two days until they drifted to inoperative Petronas’ offshore platform.

They then climbed into the empty platform to save themselves and find food.

“The seafarers decided to lower the life raft available at the platform to get help from other ships passing through the water,” Iskandar explained.

They were helped by Vietnamese-flagged boat and taken to another Petronas’ offshore platform that was still operating.”

“[Afterwards] all of them were evacuated by team from Petronas and APM Terengganu to then be investigated. Since information about the disaster was received, Embassy’s protection task force immediately maintained close coordination and intensive communication with APMM Terengganu,” the coordinator revealed.

Mazli (39), Jumadi (39), Buhari (47), Ridwan (27), and Arifin (33) are currently monitored and assisted by the Embassy while waiting to be repatriated.

“Task force plans the repatriation on April 1 via Pasir Gudang port [in Johor] to Batam. The five of them will then be returned to their hometown in Anambas,” Iskandar said.

The task force is also working to coordinate with Anambas Islands local government regarding the return of its five residents.