Indonesia ferry survivor given up for dead by family
Source: Reuters
By Ahmad Pathoni MAKASSAR, Indonesia, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The grief-stricken family of Indonesian ferry sinking survivor Suriani was so sure he had perished that they held a religious ritual to pray for his soul. But the father of one was among 15 people who were plucked from the sea by a cargo ship on Sunday after drifting on a life raft for nine days more than 480 km (300 miles) from where their ferry sank in the Java Sea in huge seas. One of them, an 18-year-old man, died hours after being rescued. "I was told last night that my family had held a gathering to pray for my soul, believing I was dead," said Suriani. At least 248 survivors have been found after the Senopati Nusantara sank around midnight on Dec. 29 with more than 600 aboard. Some were rescued while clinging to wreckage or floating in life vests, and others on life rafts. Suriani, who was treated at the state-run hospital in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, said for five days they were tossed in every direction by high waves until the sea calmed. He said the presence of four crew members of the wrecked ship had helped them survive the ordeal, with one in charge of rationing emergency food and water stored in the life raft. "We could have fought over the food and water to our death if he had not been with us. He knew what to do in that situation," said Suriani, his right arm hooked up to an intravenous drip. "I didn't think about death. Our main concern was whether we had enough food and water. So we often drank rain water and seaweed to save what we had," he said. Abdul Wahid, 24, said he was in a cafe in the upper deck when the ship was battered by huge waves and veered to one side. "I shattered a glass window and saw three liferafts, so I jumped into one of them," he said, showing a scab on his left leg from the injury he suffered while trying to flee the ship. "Many people in the VIP deck were trapped and may not have survived," said Wahid, who was returning home to Kudus in East Java after completing a construction job in Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan province. "Right now I don't want to travel by ship. I hope I can go home by plane," he said. Indonesia's tropical waters are warm and people are known to have survived for days at sea. Rescuers have had difficulty reaching some survivors spotted from the air because of rough weather, and said strong winds and currents had taken survivors and the dead hundreds of kilometres from the accident site. Indonesian rescue aircraft and helicopters also dropped food and water to some of those who were spotted but could not be immediately rescued.
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