Pamekasan (Antara) - A motor vessel Sinar Mutiara, carrying livestock with 16 crewmen on board sank in the sea off Ketapang, Sampang, East Java on Monday afternoon and it was still missing, authorities said.
The vessel carrying 140 cows and 900 goats left the port of Telaga Biru, Bangkalan, Madura, at 13.00 local time for Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) said the last contact with the vessel was between a crewman Wardi with his family members in Tanjung Bumi Bangkalan.
"At that time the vessel was in the sea off Katapang, Sampang, and Wardi told his family they needed help as the vessel was about to sink," the Pamekasan BPBD field coordinator Budi Cahyono told Antara news agency via telephone on Tuesday morning.
Wardi's relatives in Tanjung Bumi then rushed to the village chief with the information, Budi said.
He said search started along the northern coats of Sampang, and Pamekasan, but with no result until search was stopped at 22.00 local time.
He said BPBD has asked for help from Petronas with its search and rescue vessel.
There have been no information yet about the fate of the crewmen and cause of the incident, but Budi said the most likely cause was big waves.
Editor : A Saragih/O Tamindael
