Cruise ship damaged one of Indonesia's most beautiful reefs - video

A British passenger ship has destroyed one of Indonesia’s most beautiful coral reefs, reports local news website Stay Raja Ampat on its social media account. The situation occurred earlier this month, in the early afternoon.

The passenger vessel “Caledonyan Sky”, flying the flag of the Bahamas, ran aground and damaged 13500 m² of coral reef, located off the coast of the Indonesian island of Kri. The site was one of the most desolate and enchanting corners of the Raja Ampat archipelago.

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The vessel went so deep into the reef that its retrieval had to be carried out using tugs. At the time of the incident, there were nearly 200 people on board. 102 passengers and 79 crew members. According to the information available, the captain sailed to the vicinity of the island to allow guests to view the nesting birds. More importantly, however, the vessel was not supposed to be in the area under any circumstances. It appears, therefore, that the disregard of the ban by the captain of the vessel may have led to the whole situation.

[blockquote style=”2″]”It’s a big loss. Even if the reef grows back, it will be hard to say it is intact,” Victor Nikijuluw, head of Conservation International Indonesia’s marine conservation programme, told AFP[/blockquote].

Local authorities reported that both the captain of the Caledonyan Sky and at least one of the passengers refused to abandon the stranded vessel and demanded that it be pulled out by towing vessels. Several approaches were necessary for the operation to be successful, further aggravating the already devastated coral reef.

[blockquote style=”2″]”I cried when I saw what had happened. The devastation is enormous. It will take a minimum of 10 and maybe even 100 years to restore. Some of us work in agriculture, some fish, but most are employed in the tourism sector. – 30-year-old diving instructor Ruben Sauyai told the BBC.[/blockquote]

Ricardo Tapilatu of the University of Papua, who led the team that assessed the damage, the restoration of the damaged reef will cost an estimated $16 million!

Noble Caledonia, the owner of the vessel that was damaged, said in a statement that it is already working with the Indonesian authorities to find a form of compensation for the damage.

Source: telegraph.co.uk