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Ferry sinking after collision - chaos and panic during evacuation

On Nov 29, 2015, at 9.45 p.m. the "Sea Prince" hit a floating object after leaving the Nongsapura ferry terminal in Batam at 6.40 p.m., 30 minutes later than the scheduled departure time, and was travelling for about 10-15 minutes before hitting an object or coral reef 1,5 kilometers from the shore. The hull was breached and water was coming in at the stern. At the time of the incident, the ferry was in Indonesian waters and heading for Singapore with 97 passengers including 51 Singaporeans and a crew of seven on board. Passengers on board were "confused" and did not know what to do as there was no clear instructions from the crew, who apparently did not speak any English. After 20 minutes, passengers were told to put on life jackets but they were not told how to do so. They weren't standard life jackets and only had a rope around the vests. A lot of tourists did not know how to wear the life jackets. After about 30 to 40 minutes, two inflatable rafts on the ferry were deployed for the passengers. The first life raft had too many passengers – including two babies – on it. The maximum capacity of each raft was supposedly for 25 passengers. There were about 40 people on his raft. In the transfer process, passengers got wet as it was low tide and they lost personal belongings like passports and mobile phones as they got into the water. Some suffered slight injuries like sprains and cuts Water started seeping ito the overloaded raft, which deflated, leaving those on board struggling to keep afloat. A nearby fishing boat came to their rescue, but could not get their boats close enough to the ferry to rescue those in the water. The other passengers still on the ferry helped to pull the ropes tied to the boats to tug them closer to the ferry. A second life raft that was deployed also had water seeping in and deflated. More fishing boats came to their rescue. The operator despatched two vessels to the site of the incident within 20 minutes, but were unable to get closer to the damaged and listing ferry because of sea conditions. The firm then deployed smaller vessels to rescue the passengers at 9 p.m. All passengers and crew made it to Batam shores at around 10.10 p.m. 59 passengers arrived at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal at about 12.20 a.m. on Nov 30. The crew and two passengers remained in Batam. Report with photos and video: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/nearly-100-rescued-after/2304342.html http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/all-97-passengers-rescued-after-batam-singapore-ferry-hits-floating-object http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/batam-ferry-hits-floating-object-all-passengers-safe-after-transfer http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/nearly-100-rescued-after/2304342.html