A small ambulance boat carrying three passengers plus crew has been missing for one week since it sailed out of Tinggalungan Island in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province.
The unnamed vessel departed Tinggalungan and sailed for the Makassar Strait on October 13. It was scheduled to arrive at Dewakang Island some 50 nautical miles away after a journey that had been estimated to last only eight hours.
However, no trace of the vessel has yet been found seven days after it left Tinggalungan.
National search and rescue (SAR) agency Basarnas has deployed the SAR vessel Kamajaya to the area of the Makassar Strait where the ambulance boat was last reported.
The boat's three passengers at the time of its disappearance are aged between 55 and 65 and are residents of Tinggalungan.
On Friday, October 17, the SAR operation was temporarily suspended on to permit Kamajaya to refuel and replenish her onboard provisions at Soekarno Hatta Port in South Sulawesi. The vessel also took on replacement crews to substitute for the personnel who had been continuously scouring the strait for four days.
Radio Republik Indonesia said the SAR effort resumed on Saturday, October 18.
