Indonesian survivors of capsized boat return home

Indonesian survivors of capsized boat return home.

Thirty-four Indonesians who survived a recent capsized boat incident in the waters surrounding Johor in Malaysia were escorted back to Indonesia on Monday.

The survivors are expected to make the trip home after being discharged through the Pekan Nenas Immigration Depot in Johor Bahru's Stulang Laut Port, their last stop before arriving at Tanjung Pinang Port in Indonesia's Riau Island province.

All expenses for the repatriation of the 34 Indonesians will be borne by the state, the Foreign Ministry's director for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities abroad, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said in a statement.

"In accordance with the instructions of Foreign Minister [Retno LP Marsudi], our consul general in Johor approached the Malaysian authorities to ensure the 34 Indonesians would be able to return without bearing any fines or detention time for the immigration violations they may have committed," Iqbal said, quoting a report from Marsianda, the Johor Bahru Consulate General's consular officer who will accompany the survivors to Tanjung Pinang.

Upon arrival in the Riau Island port city, the 34 Indonesians will be handed over to the Tanjung Pinang branch of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Placement Services Office (BP3TKI), where local officials will further process the migrant workers' return to their respective hometowns across the country.

Late on July 23, a boat overloaded with around 62 informally processed Indonesian migrant workers capsized in Johor waters, claiming at least 15 lives with around a dozen more still missing. From the 34 survivors, 10 come from the West Nusa Tenggara province, nine from East Java, four from Aceh, three from East Nusa Tenggara, four are from North Sumatra, two from Banten, and one person each from Jambi and West Sumatra. (dmr)