A boat captain has been arrested by police in Bali’s Klungkung regency for alleged oversight, after two foreign passengers died when a boat capsized near the Devil’s Tear cove in Nusa Lembongan in September.
“[He’s] been arrested (as suspect) because of his oversight which had led to death [of two people]” Putu Gede Ardana, spokesman of Klungkung Police, told Detik yesterday.
Ardana said that the boat captain, 35-year-old Suhadak, could be charged with violations of either the 2008 Law on Shipping or the country’s criminal code. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.
Suadak was the captain of Nagasima-go boat in September, and had taken two foreign passengers around Nusa Lembongan (located just to the southeast of Bali) when a big wave hit and caused the boat to capsize.
A footage of the capsized boat made its rounds on social media, showing the strong waves at the Devil’s Tear cove when the accident took place.
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Suadak was able to swim to the nearby cliffs and was helped up by local residents, while the two foreigners were continuously hit by strong waves and soon appeared to be out of breath before they drifted away.
By the time another boat passed by and was able to pick up the two victims, they had reportedly lost consciousness.
Forty-eight-year-old Caval Heir O Biron from Brazil and 43-year-old Victor Johannes Allers from South Africa were declared dead by the medical team at a local Puskesmas (Community Health Center) not long after.
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