MAKASSAR (ISL News) - Three Tug Boats belonging to PT Pelindo Jasa Maritim, a Subholding of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Persero) or Pelindo swiftly responded to the fire disaster that befell the passenger ship KM Umsini at Makassar Port on Sunday 9 June 2024. .
At around 05.00 WITA, the KM Umsini passenger ship belonging to PT. Pelni caught fire and caused panic among hundreds of passengers and crew members. This ship sailed from Bau-Bau to Makassar, with all passengers declared safe.
Emergency response measures were taken by several nearby ships, including KT (Tugboat) Jayanegara 201, KT Anoman VIII, and KT Anoman IX owned by Pelindo. Another tugboat, TB Wisnu belonging to Pertamina, also collaborated in efforts to extinguish the fire.
PT Pelindo Jasa Maritim Corporate Secretary, Tubagus Patrick Tribudi Utama Iskandar said, "We offer thanks to God, that our three fleets fulfilled their humanitarian duty to help extinguish the fire that hit KM Umsini in Makassar waters."
"The extinguishing process went smoothly, with compliance with HSSE standards, as well as collaboration with Pertamina's fleet so that the potential for greater fire danger could be avoided," continued Patrick.
During the blackout process, KT. Jayanegara 201, which has a capacity of 1000 liters/minute with a reach of 130 m, took action as smothering (oxygen removal) by blocking the center of the fire with bursts of fire fighting.
eanwhile, KT. Anggada VIII & KT. Anggada IX acts as a cooling vessel wall so that the impact of the fire does not spread, and TB Vishnu acts as a backup cooling.
Collaboration between these ships helped extinguish the growing fire at KM Umsini, thereby preventing the potential for greater danger.
Thousands of passengers were successfully evacuated to the Anging Mammiri Port Passenger Terminal in Makassar, which has a capacity of 3,000 people. The speed of the evacuation process and incident handling meant that shipping lanes around the waters were not disturbed.
This is supported by the ship's fast maneuverability, fast response crew and collaboration between all parties, both from inside the ship by KM Umsini and from the outside, namely with the help of three tugboats belonging to Pelindo and Pertamina, so that it can play an optimal role in supporting efforts to extinguish fires at sea.
Pelindo's tugboats have several times played a role in firefighting operations at a number of other ports in Indonesia, such as at Tanjung Emas Port, Semarang, Banjarmasin Port, and Tanjung Perak Port, Surabaya.
(Editorial ISL News/Corcom SPJM/email:islnewstv@gmail.com).
