“KMP Royce 1 Ferry Fire in the Merak Sea: An Account of the Evacuation and Extinguishing Process”

Curiosity –

KMP Royce 1 ferry burning in the Merak Sea, Banten. Initial reports of ship fires were received by Merak Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) officers.

The fire occurred on Saturday (6/5/2023). Initial information fire received around 14.50 WIB.

The evacuation process was completed at 19.21 WIB. Only at night, the fire on the KMP Royce 1 ferry was extinguished.

The following is a chronology of the KMP Royce 1 ferry fire:

14.50 WIB

Initially, officers received reports that a ship was on fire on the Merak-Bakauheni sea route at around 14.50 WIB. However, at that time, there was no complete information on the type and name of the ship that was on fire. The VTS officer then confirmed the information to the radio source.

“VTSO checked again from the CCTV monitor for the whereabouts of the burning ship
Ship position 05.56.252’S /105.57.401’E. At 14.55 VTSO confirmed to KMP Royce 1 and it turned out that the news was true KMP ROYCE 1 had a fire on the left hull,” said VTS Merak officer, Sudirman, through his statement.

Receiving this information, officers broadcast the news via radio communication to all ships sailing in Merak waters to help the ship.

“VTSO conducted a broadcast related to the KMP ROYCE 1 fire to ships around Merak Port to send aid to the ship,” he said.

Officers also contacted stretcher boats that normally operate in Merak waters to help put out the fire. Several stretcher boats in the Port of Ciwandan, Cigading and its surroundings have docked at the scene of the incident to evacuate passengers.

Not only that, the news of the burning ship was forwarded to several related agencies such as Lanal Banten, Polairud Banten, Health Service, Basarnas, and PT Pelabuhan Cilegon Mandiri (PCM).

“VTSO communicated with the KKP (Port Health Office) forwarding information from the patrol boat to request ambulance and medical assistance at Pier 1 for the victims,” ​​he said.

19.21 WIB

The stretcher boats that had been broadcast earlier docked to evacuate the passengers. Officers received information that there were pregnant women among the passengers.

Passenger evacuation lasted about 4 hours more. Officers prioritize mothers and children to be evacuated first. The tugboats that arrived at the location continued to extinguish the fire.

“At 19:21, VTSO received information from the KRI. Lauser 924 was still evacuating the Crew and now KRI Lauser was delivering 7 crew members of the KMP ship. Royce I headed for Indah Kiat,” he said.

20.00 WIB

At around 20.00 WIB, the fire in the ship was successfully extinguished. However, the cooling process continues to be carried out to ensure there are no more sparks.

“For the number of fatalities and damage, we are still waiting for further information from the KMP Royce 1 ship,” he said.

(bal/maa)