Tsunami kills at least 43, leave hundreds missing on Indonesian islands

[News_Editor]

Tsunami kills at least 43, leave hundreds missing on Indonesian islands

2010-10-26 18:20:02 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- At least 43 people have been killed and hundreds more remain missing after a large tsunami devastated Indonesian islands off the western coast of Sumatra, officials said on Tuesday.

The tsunami was a result of a massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake at 9.42 p.m. local time (1442 GMT) on Monday, centered just off the Mentawai Islands, about 240 kilometers (149 miles) south of Padang, the capital and largest city of West Sumatra. It struck about 20 kilometers (12.8 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Indonesia's seismological agency immediately issued a tsunami warning for nearby coastlines, but the warning came too late for villages on the Mentawai Islands where a three-meter (9.8-feet) tsunami devastated towns near the coast.

As of Tuesday, Indonesian officials confirmed at least 43 people had been killed while more than 360 people remain missing. Many villages near the coast on the Mentawai Islands were completely destroyed by the waves, which also caused several tourist boats to collide.

Among those missing are at least 8 to 10 Australians who were believed to be on the MV Southern Cross tourist boat when the tsunami struck. Contact with the vessel has been lost since the tsunami, but it was not immediately clear if this was a result of poor telephone coverage or if they were impacted by the tsunami.

"At this stage we have no information that causes us to hold concerns for the welfare of the Australians on the boat," a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. "However, until we have confirmed the safety of the Australians on the boat, the Embassy in Jakarta will continue to liaise closely with Indonesian authorities."

The Department said its Embassy is working with their Indonesian counterparts and Surfaid, a local organization in Sumatra, which has arranged for three vessels to search for the missing ship.

There is also confusion about the total number of passengers on board the MV Southern Cross, which can carry at least 76 passengers and possibly up to 150. While the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would only confirm the number of Australian nationals on board, CNN reported that as many as 100 people may have been on the vessel.

"The Embassy’s efforts to contact the captain have been hampered by poor telephone coverage in the area and by the fact that the boat is reportedly not equipped with a satellite phone," a spokesperson for the Department said. "Indonesia's Sea Security Coordinator has confirmed it has not received any distress calls from boats in the area."

Earlier on Tuesday, Australian tourist Rick Hallet told Nine Network about his experience when the tsunami wave struck Macaronis Surf Resort. There, it caused two boats to collide and explode.

"Within several minutes [of the earthquake] a large wall of white water came through the bay and took us out essentially," he told the network. "It was night time around about 10 p.m., a two to three meter wall of white water came into the bay and there was another boat anchored out the side of us."

Some reports claimed the tsunami was as high as 6 meters (19 feet), but officials did not immediately confirm those claims.

"The wave picked that boat up and brought it towards us and ran straight into us and our boat exploded, caught on fire, we had a fireball on the back deck and right through the saloon within seconds," Hallet continued.

The Australian tourist said he had ordered everyone up to the top deck before the boat crashed into his. "Then the boat exploded and we had to abandon ship," he said. "We threw whatever we could that floated - surfboards, fenders - then we jumped into the water."

Hallet told how they were then swept about 200 meters (218 yards) inland by the large waves and sheltered in high trees for about 90 minutes until they were rescued. "We stayed up in the trees until we felt there was no more risk of waves or big surges coming through," he added.

Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.

On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries. In all, at least 227,898 people were killed.

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