Indonesia searches for seven people, including five journalists, missing after travelling by speedboat to cover the Mount Anak Krakatau eruption
JAKARTA: Indonesian teams were searching on Tuesday for seven people including five journalists who had gone missing while travelling to cover the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau, the national rescue agency said.
The group set out on a speedboat from an area near the capital Jakarta on Monday afternoon, but “until now they have not returned, and the boat owner has not received any information from the crew”, the agency said.
The five Indonesian journalists on board were sent to capture photos and video of the volcano’s eruption, which since Saturday had paralysed several airports and blanketed Jakarta and neighbouring cities in volcanic ash.
The journalists were working for local and international media, including state news agency Antara, Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu, and local website iNews.
One of the journalists contacted a colleague and shared his location at 3:00 pm on Monday, but has not been heard from since, according to the rescue agency.
Rescuers, police and the company that owns the speedboat were all involved in the search, it added.
Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian archipelago, due in part to lax safety standards and inclement weather.
In January, three Spanish tourists died when their boat sank off eastern Indonesia, and a 10-year-old boy was listed as officially missing, presumed dead, after authorities ended the search.
