Tampomas II

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KMP Tampomas II ("KMP" is an acronym for "Kapal Motor Penumpang" or 'Motored Passenger Vessel") was a sea liner owned by Pelni (Indonesian National Shipping) that burned and sank (at 114°25'60"E, 5°30'0"S) in the Masalembo Islands in the Java Sea (in the administrative area of East Java Province) while sailing from Jakarta to Sulawesi on January 27, 1981. This disaster resulted in the deaths of hundreds of passengers.

Overview

Tampomas II, originally named MV Great Emerald, was produced in 1956 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Shimonoseki, Japan. It was a RoRo (Roll On-Roll Off) vessel of the screw-steamer type weighing 6139 GRT (gross registered tonnage) and weighted dead 2.41969 million DWT (dead weight tonnage). Retrofitted in Taiwan in 1971, the ship had a capacity of 1500 passengers, with a maximum speed of 19.5 knots. It had a width of 22 meters and a length of 125.6 meters.

The ship was purchased by PT. PANN (Pengembangan Armada Niaga Nasional or National Commercial Fleet Development) from Comodo Marine Co. SA, Japan for US$8.3 million, and then PT. PELNI repurchased it from PT. PANN on a ten-year lease contract. Many were confused at the high price of this ship, because it was offered to other private liner companies for only US$3.6 million. Various parties, including Japan, stated that the ship was no longer seaworthy because it was already 25 years old at the time of the purchase. Once operated, this ship was directly assigned to serve the routes Jakarta–Padang and Jakarta–Ujung Pandang, which were the busiest routes at that time. Every time the ship made port, it was only given a four-hour break before sailing again. Repairs and routine maintenance on the ship's machinery and equipment was done in a perfunctory fashion considering its age.

However, despite the substandard maintenance, the maiden voyage of Tampomas II was set for June 2 through June 13, 1980. A number of journalists and members of the House of Representatives were invited to join the voyage. On this cruise, several members of the House had witnessed and also questioned about the engine that often broke down during the trip. A Member of Parliament from the PDIP party, Ahmad Soebagyo, mentioned various irregularities during the cruise, including the ship was circling in the same radius due to the malfunctioning of its engine automatic regulator buttons and the cancellation of a show event on the ship due to a prolonged electrical failure. According to a reporter, the engine broke down six times during the trip.

The disaster

Tampomas II departed from Tanjung Priok harbor on Saturday, January 24, 1981 at 19:00 am, and was estimated to arrive in Ujung Pandang on Monday, January 26, 1981 at 10:00 pm. A pilot skipper mentioned that one of the ship's engines had broken down before leaving.

The ship carried dozens of motor vehicles, including a SAKAI steam roller, Vespa scooters, etc., which were parked in the car deck. The manifest mentioned 200 motor cars, 1055 registered passengers and 82 crew members on board. The estimated total passengers, including stowaways, was 1442.

Around 20:00 on January 25, in stormy weather, some parts of the engine experienced fuel leaks, and cigarette butts coming down from the vents ignited the leaking fuel. The crews saw the fire and tried to snuff it out using portable fire extinguishers, but failed. The fire grew larger in the engine compartment because of the open deck doors. It caused a power cutoff for two hours, and the emergency generator failed and any effort to extinguish the fire was halted because it was deemed impossible. The fuel that was still in every vehicle caused the fire to spread and burned up all the decks quickly. Thirty minutes after the fire started, the passengers were ordered to go to the upper deck and board the lifeboats. However, the evacuation process went slowly because there was only one door to the upper deck. Once they get to the upper decks, none of the crew nor the ship's officers directed them to the lifeboats. Some of the crew members even selfishly lowered the lifeboats for themselves. There were only six lifeboats, each with a capacity of only 50 people. Some passengers desperately dived into the sea, and some frantically waited for rescue.

The first ship to conduct a rescue mission was the KM Sangihe, with Captain Agus K. Sumirat as the skipper. Sumirat was Abdul Rivai's classmate in the class of 1959 when they were studying at Academy Ilmu Pelayaran (Maritime Academy). Sangihe was travelling from Pare-pare to Surabaya for engine repair. Sangihe's first deck officer, J. Bilalu, wasthe first to see a puff of smoke to the west and thought the smoke was coming from Pertamina's offshore oil rig. Sangihe's wireless operator, Abu Akbar, sent an SOS message at 08:15. KM Ilmamui joined the rescue effort at 21:00, followed four hours later by the tanker Palace VI and other ships, including Adhiguna Karunia and PT. Porodisa Line's KM Sengata.

In the morning of January 26, the Java Sea was hit by torrential rain. The fire began to spread to the engine room, where there was unisolated fuel. As a result, in the morning of January 27, there was an explosion in the engine room which created an entrance for the sea water to fill the compartments. The generator and the propeller room filled with seawater, which resulted in the ship having a 45° list.

Finally, at 12:45 on January 27 (about 30 hours after the first spark), the ship sank to the bottom of the Java Sea, along with 288 people in the lower decks.

Captain Abdul Rival was the last to leave the ship, he sent a message to the skipper of Sangihe, "Please send me water and food, because I am going to stay on the ship until the last minute". The message was conveyed through Bakaila, a crew member who successfully crossed over to Sangihe. But the request was not fulfilled by Sumirat.

Victims

Rescuers estimated that 431 people were killed (143 bodies were found and 288 people were lost with the ship), while 753 people were rescued. Other sources put the number of victims as much larger, with up to 666 people killed. Of note, Palace VI managed to save 144 Tampomas passengers and discovered four bodies, while Sengata saved 169 people and discovered two bodies, while another ship, KM Sonne discovered 29 dead bodies, including captain Abdul Rival.

The wireless operator, Odang Kusdinar, survived, he was found with 62 passengers in a lifeboat near Duang Duang Island, 240 km east of where Tampomas sank, on Friday, January 30, 1981 at 05:00.

The investigation

Minister of Transportation Roesmin Nurjadin, in his explanation to the press at the offices of the Department of Transportation, said that an abnormal thing happened in the engine room. The disorder occurred in the vehicle deck space, especially on a two-wheeled vehicle located in the rear, when a shock wave from the sea that was strong enough to raise sparks and allow a fire to spread. Machinist Wishardi Hamzah said that Tampomas II did not have a smoke detection system.

The investigation, led by Attorney Bob Rush Efendi Nasution, did not provide meaningful results, because all errors were blamed on the crew. There is an impression that this case was intentionally covered up by the government at that time, although many in parliament demand a more serious investigation.[1]

In popular culture

  • Iwan Fals created a song about the sinking entitled "Babble Seagull Fools and Blackened"[2]
  • Ebiet G. Ade created a song about the sinking entitled "A Tragedy 1981", found on the album Next Step, which was published in 1982[2]

See also

List of maritime disasters

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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