All 392 passengers of the Bahari 9C express boat that sank on Saturday off Kalosot Island in Madura, East Java, were safely evacuated, the East Java Transportation Agency confirmed.

"All passengers are saved after being evacuated by boats belonging to local residents near the location," agency head Wahid Wahyudi told Antara on Sunday.

He said that the evacuation went on until 11.20 p.m. and all the passengers had been taken to Raas Island port.

The boat was traveling from Jangkar port in Situbondo to Raas Island port when its propellers hit a coral reef at 5:30 p.m., around 1.6 kilometers before its destination.

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The boat trip was the second round of free sea transports provided by the East Java administration that day for passengers who wanted to return to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri next weekend.

The first boat sailed to Raas Island port at 9:30 a.m. with 368 passengers and returned to Jangkar port with only 19 passengers.

"However, because of the very high demand, the boat sailed again to Raas Island with 392 passengers," Wahid said. (yon/bbs)

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by JAKARTA POST

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