Fourteen rescued from sunken cargo ship in Java Sea

A cargo ship sank in bad weather in Indonesia’s Java Sea on Sunday, January 12.

The 72-metre KM El No 2 was transporting a cargo of cement and construction materials from Jakarta to Pontianak when it began encountering rough seas off Belitung island a day prior.

Strong waves that struck the vessel caused the onboard cargo to shift, which in turn caused the vessel to list heavily until it finally sank on Sunday morning (local time).

Local authorities had originally declared KM El No 2 missing after radio contact with the crew was lost on the late evening of Saturday, January 11. However, on the following day, marine search and rescue (SAR) teams were able to locate the distressed vessel half-submerged with only its wheelhouse and a deck crane visible above the water.

KM El No 2‘s entire crew of 14 were safely rescued by the responding SAR teams. No injuries have been reported.