SOME 21 PEOPLE MISSING IN TAPIN SHIPWRECK

Banjarmasin, Aug 29 (ANTARA) - At least 21 people who had been traveling on a boat, the MV Sari Mulia, have gone missing after the vessel capsized in Negara Desa Batalas waters in Candi Laras Utara, Tapin district, South Kalimantan, on Friday.

Tapin police spokesman Brig Fery Aditya Sasmita said, as per Saturday morning some 110 people from the ill-fated boat had been rescued but one had drowned and 21 other remained missing.

He said rescue teams sent from Tapin district had limited diving equipment and thus were unable to save the missing passengers who were presumably trapped inside the boat.

According to Aditya, the boat was designed to carry less than one hundred passengers but on Friday there were 132 people on board.

"The boat was overloaded and this might have contributed to the accident," Aditya said, adding that the boat capsized at 8 p.m. local time on Friday after the people on board had performed their evening prayers.

Meanwhile, Candi Laras Utara police spokesman Inspector Rizqi Maulana said one of the ill-fated boat's crew members, Dardy, of Hulu Sungai Selatan district, was questioned by the police about the accident.

Dardy told the police that the overloaded boat was on its way from Daha in Hulu Sungai Selatan district to Banjarmasin with a stopover at Tapin district but it capsized before reaching South Kalimantan's provincial capital.

Rizqi Maulana said the wooden boat was designed to carry 45 passengers but in reality it carried more than one hundred passengers plus several tons of cargo.

He said the boat overturned a few hours after leaving Batalas pier in Tapin, or about 100 kilometers from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.

Rizki said a team of South Kalimantan water police has arrived at the scene to rescue the missing passengers who were trapped in the boat.

He said the passengers who were able to save themselves have been picked up by their family and relatives, while the injured ones were being treated at Candi Laras clinics in Margasari subdistrict.