All Four Missing Australians Found, One Indonesian Still Lost At Sea
Earlier this morning, Barsanas - Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency - spotted three Australians who'd been missing north of Nias.
On Sunday night, two wooden speedboats left a port in northern Nias bound for Pinang Island in the southern reaches of the Banyak Islands. The boats ran into inclement weather and split up from each other.
One boat arrived safely late on Sunday, however there'd since been no sign of the second boat, which was carrying four Australians, Steph Weisse, Will Teagle, Elliot Foote and Jordan Short, plus three Indonesian crew.
The search area has been narrowed down to the purple area south-east of the Banyaks
In the search, Barsanas had been joined by charter boats in the area, including Pulse and Sea Mi-Amor, which discovered the survivors floating on surfboards at 8:30am this morning.
One of the still missing people, Elliot Foote, apparently left the group to paddle towards Pulau Palambakbesar. Another Indonesian crew is still unaccounted for.
The search mission has headed north towards Pulau Palambakbesar.
The time line for the search can be accessed here. Latest updates are at the bottom.
More as it happens.
Comments
Great news, looks like they've picked up two Indonesian crew as well, but Elliot and another Indonesian are still being searched for.
0925 situation update.
3 Australians, 2 Indonesians rescued. Search operation still in place for Elliot Foote and Indonesian Citizen (names of indonesians not communicated yet). Some miscommunication occurred between search crews that elliot had been found, but was clarified soon after that he is still missing, last seen paddling towards PALAU PALAMBAKBESAR by the three rescued Australians. Time when not known.
Pinang Island are pulling in at least 2K per day USD
At Minimum buy an EPIRB for each Boat !!!
First thing I thought Udo. Highly irresponsible/negligent if the operators are westerners.
When will people learn to avoid these cheap surf trips where lives are put at risk and sometimes lost. I witnessed this last year in the same area when I was aboard the reliable and safe Mangalui. When a group of French young males and a couple of girls, maybe 10 people. They arrived to surf near us, their boat literally sitting 12 inches above the water line. No real cover, no toilet, totally unsafe. More so when a random tropical storm landed on us with 50 knott winds, torrential rain, extreme weather. We kept a check on them throughout. Lives are cheap in those areas. Do your homework on surf charters and resorts. Pay a bit extra and maybe avoid losing your life.
0955 : ELLIOT CONFIRMED ALIVE. HE IS IN A SURF CAMP IN THE BAY OF PLENTY.
0958 : One indonesian remains lost at sea. Names of Indonesian crew still unkown.
1000
Boat departs to go and get elliot.
Elliot just wanted to surf.. Jokes aside, hopefully the last Indonesian fella is found.
Years ago I was on an underequipped boat that conked out off the coast of Samoa. No radio or life jackets. Thankfully the skipper fixed the engine, because there was a big swell, late arvo and nothing but cliffs nearby that we were drifting towards. Could have been really ugly.
Later when I was in Nias I heard a night mare story first hand from a guy who got a small boat from Nias out to the islands. Engine conked out, no radio, no life jackets, drifted for days then made the decision to jump on his board at sunrise and paddle towards the east. He said it took him most of the day paddling to reach landfall at Nias.
The lesson is whenever overseas, always take personal interest in boat safety. Check operators have EPIRBs, radios, life jackets etc before you head off into the blue horizon. If the operator has not spent any money on this, there is a good chance they haven't spent money on engine maintenance either, and you are rolling the dice big time.
That link states Elliot found alive in Bay of Plenty Surf Camp
Made that same trip in the same boat with the same operator last year. Tiny boat in big ocean, felt very unsafe
Give us a story .
did the trip in 2019.
got to the port and boat looked a little battered and only reason we got in was the boat had two engines and the driver had a satellite phone
on the way back to the port in north nias the driver run aground about 100 metres form the port. had to carry all our shit to shore
Wow Such a heavy deal, crew is so lucky everyone could paddle.
That's the crazy situations surfers put themselves in.
Hopefully next time they might er on the side of caution?
Who knows......?
Hope they find the last guy. Great news, had fears for a worse outcome.
Fantastic news.
Good news alright but to call those things speed boats is a stretch.........also if your going on a trip like this buy your own epirb.......not that exy
Agree on the personal epirbs. I have one with me on any offshore boat I'm on. Absolutely makes sense in Indo to have one.
Great news though, hope they find that last bloke.
Great news and fingers crossed for the local fella.
Don't know what the take out of all this is? Keeping it 'core' or just saving coin? From my pov I reckon I'd go for the more seaworthy vessel.
Surfboards- they can save yours and others lives. Keep 'em close.
Everything’s relative, in the early 2000’s we got a feral boat from Nias down to the telos and slept on it for a week. Theres a decent portion of the trip where you can’t see land in any direction. At the time young and dumb, amazing trip, great waves no crowds. We ran into a charter boat on the last day and copped a bit of heat off the skipper. We thought he was a wanker - hindsight they’re the ones that pull you out of the shit when it hits the fan. We hadn’t even considered this. 20 years older and I wouldn’t be doing it again.
Latest update on rescue document:
11:50: Three Australians and two Indonesians were found floating in the water drifting at sea by their two friends Ben, Ethan, with Czech surf guide JACOB who embarked on a search mission early this AM with same captain and deckhand, on the same vessel which experienced adverse weather and made it to safety on 13.8.23. (Boat 2).
The captain and crewman who saved 8 Australians lives from the wild storm on 13.8.23 via finding shelter in intense circumstances and navigating through the wild storm with minimal to no resources, did not stop searching the entire time persons were lost at sea. The local crew, and their friends are the true heroes, who had little to no resources, but ended up with the result.
The captain (Yustinus) and crewman who managed to navigate and save 8 Australians on 13/8/23 are still out at sea looking for their last missing friend.
Elliot was found by local fisherman over 20 miles away after being lost at sea by himself. The local fisherman from Nias Island dropped Elliot to a nearby surf camp in the Bay of Plenty.
The heroic and collective efforts from Boat 2 Australians + Indonesian crew, the local Village effort, the crew of Grant Richardsons Sea Mi Amore who went out late at night with full confidence that the persons were Alive and would be found.
An extensive crew of surf boat charters, sailing boats, local boats, BASARNA INDONESIAN AUTHORITIES, Jordan's family friend Steve within Indonesia, AMSA (AUSTRALIA), DFAT (AUSTRALIA), THE FAMILIES ,FRIENDS, STAFF OF DESTINATION ISLAND AND ALL OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SURVIVAL OF 6/7 PEOPLE TO THIS POINT. THE EFFORT DID NOT STOP.
The guidance from appropriate authorities and collaboration between international agencies including the Australian effort to get things happening in a difficult diplomatic climate, was exceptional. With minimal resources on our island, the 8 non-missing Australians were able to coordinate a search mission, chain of events, chain of assets, and chain of communication which joined forced and made the situation accessible, clear, and up to date to all relevant people at all times.
The Missing Australians and Indonesians managed to work together and save each others lives. The ship sunk in the adverse weather and upon a rushed and catastrophic exit in which the vessel sunk, what ever what was accessible could be helpful in the survival effort was taken. The Missing persons have been through a significantly traumatic event and privacy must be respected.
It is presumed that the remaining missing Indonesian Person is now a retrieval mission, and feared passed away.
But hope within the local village community does remain. It is a traumatic time for the local village who worked non stop, above there means, and risked their lives constantly in the retrieval effort of all missing persons. The locals stayed out in there small boats at night, when officials would not continue in darkness.
11:55
Search continues for remaining Indonesian lost at sea, lead by local Yusitinus and his crew of heroes.
What was Elliot thinking? Not the smartest decision he’s ever made. Lucky guy.
Leant nothing from Eddie Aikau.
Very lucky. First thing they teach you for STCW survival at sea is to stay together to form a bigger target so you can be spotted easily from search and rescue craft.
but if they had been at sea all night and there was visible land within striking distance it seems like a reasonable option for the strongest to paddle to get help even with the risks involved...mustn't be very sharky waters unless he punched them in the gills WA style
Went to super-exxy private school so wouldn't be struggling for coin, but suppose there is always appeal in doing things the hardcore (dangerous) way
Good to hear they are safe.
The big mistake the camp operator made was traveling that sort of distance in a long boat at night, traveling with a long boat at night is always kinda dangerous, more so for others safety, there is always the risk of hitting a local fisherman who are fishing without lights be it a canoe (sampan) or bigger boat.
Occasionally we have had no choice to travel at night short distances but when we have had to do it, we are within 500 metres of land and have someone on the front with a torch and go real slow.
During the day this trip would be fine, looking on google earth they would be within 25km of land at any time, so you would be able to see land.
Of course an EPIRB for traveling those kind of distances that far from land should be a no brainer.
Going to be interesting to hear what exactly happened, doesnt seem like there is a boat , so maybe they hit a big log or something at full speed, long boats are tuff but they can get weakened with little timber worm things, they do sink once they fill.
Was up there in May. Julian, the owner of one of the pole houses in the Bay Of Plenty, called off a crossing for our group of 6 from Simuleue due to heavy swell & howling winds. Very glad he did. All the surf travel companies say the winds are mainly calm because of the area’s proximity to the equator. Ask any Simuleue local & they will tell you the local winds and weather are very unpredictable any time of year. Stoked they were found alive & well.
can't wait to hear from the wife, she looks batshit crazy.
Yeaaaahhhh
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-15/four-australians-found-after-goin...
Wonder what happened to the boat?
Apparently, it wasn't swamped, it just took on water. Not sure how quickly though.
I will assume they didn't have a bilge pump and wonder if they even had a bucket onboard.
The best bilge pump going is still a scared man with a bucket.
The larger long boats have a little hole in the hull towards the back with a hose a few inches long going into the ocean, once you start moving water in the hull drains it works quite well, if your going real slow or stop you put the plug in, if you forget though it starts taking in water quite quickly.
These timber long boats pretty much always leak though to some degree, and over time get worms and timber water logged and heavy, they can look real solid but if have worms and you gave it a real good thump in the right spot like hit a big log, you could cause a decent leak, add in heavy rain and they can fill fairly quick.
gunna make a motza selling the story
Garmin Inreach solves this all pretty quickly.
https://discover.garmin.com/en-AU/inreach/personal/
Very lucky!
Hope they find the missing person.
Radical,stretch of water,to be treated with the utmost respect.
Late 70s one of my mates took the copra boat from Sibolga it took him 11 days to get to Nias. Are you out there Garry?
Hopefully they manage to find the last bloke still missing, but otherwise great news.
Sounds like a fairly expensive resort, yet using long boats for a crossing at night, with no EPIRBS, it seems like a lot of corners have been cut. Which to be fair, is typical of most indo resorts in my experience.
Early 80's travelling to Nusa Lembongan on local Jukung( only option ) with local Indo's & their supplies of chickens, pigs, huge bags of Nasi ,Air(water) etc from Sanur across the Lombok straight with an old Mercury marine motor which dies in the middle of the journey among swirling eddies with mini waves breaching the gunnels & slowly filling the boat with sea water despite several of us baling out water. Fortunately "I know boats" is onboard (fisho from the Gong) who pulls down motor & cleans out the dirty carbi with fuel to get the motor happening ! Very fortunate that we had him on board( & some tools)! Upon eventually reaching Nusa Lembongan (just B4 last light) it was Bintangs all round with old mate shouted well into the wee small hours! Basic maintenance really but the Indo's way back when only did maintenance when BROKEN! One of only several boating experiences I could recount from my sojourns to Indo in the early to mid 80's when you had to take your chances with the locals to get to the more remote outposts chasing waves we had been told were worth the effort to investigate! Fortunately I'm still here to tell the story & seems to me that 40 or so years later some things never change as evidenced by those lucky few who have survived this latest incident on the briny in the sometimes treacherous waters of the Indonesian Archipelago!
It was before my time (I first went in 2001), but my old man told me some pretty scary stories about trips to Lembongan in the early 80's in rickety boats.
He told me an almost identical Lembongan story where the motor died halfway across but old mate managed to fix it. A big swell running at the time so some pretty serious long range swells were coming through whilst the motor was being fixed apparently made it even more nerve racking.
I almost did a trip to the Banyaks last time I was in Nias, although it sounds like I might have been wise not too. I assume the trip to Asu is in similar boat, but not as far so I'd probably still give that a go.
Latest from the search:
1343: CAPSIZED BOAT SPOTTED BY PRIVATELY CHARTED AIR VESSEL. LOCAL INDONESIANS (INCLUDING RECENTLY RESCUED INDONESIANS) CONTINUE SEARCH FOR LAST REMAINING MISSING PERSONS
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-16/indonesian-crew-member-still-miss...
Didn’t mention if the crew had life jackets on.
If he’s still afloat surely there’s a chance he’s still alive?
From yesterday's update:
"It is presumed that the remaining missing Indonesian Person is now a retrieval mission, and feared passed away."
Bugger
As crazy as it sounds its not unusual for Indo guys that work on boats or even fish to not even be able to swim or at least to a degree that they would need.
I find it strange that the groups separated.
Yeah I know a lot of Indonesians that work on or around the water can’t swim but I thought if he had a life jacket on there’d be a chance
We had water coming over the back of a charter boat in the Ments during a rough crossing and I looked around and the mechanic had turned white and had a life jacket strapped on.
Sad news!
They work hard those Niasan people!
I have 2 epirbs. One is kept on my boat and the other is a personal epirb... the personal epirb is about half the size of a can of soft drink... i take with me when i go on boats surfing, always....
Would have been 6 Boards on the Boat ?
https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/scary-moment-aus...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-18/how-a-surf-trip-off-indonesia-tur...
So sad for the family of the missing Indo crew member. Probably the bread winner for his family too. Hope the Aussie survivors help the family out...
iam gonna assume that the boards didnt help them ???