11 European Tourists Rescued After Speedboat Sinks in Indonesia’s Tomini Bay

Rescue teams found all eleven foreign tourists alive Saturday after their speedboat broke apart and sank in Tomini Bay, off Sulawesi island in Indonesia. The boat's captain remained missing.

The speedboat left a dive resort in Tojo Unauna regency, Central Sulawesi, early Friday morning. It was headed for Marisa Port in the neighboring Gorontalo province. When it failed to arrive, a local tour guide filed a missing report at 3:40 in the afternoon.

Search teams spread out across roughly 300 square nautical miles of Tomini Bay. Waves reached 2.5 meters and winds were strong. A thermal-imaging drone was deployed alongside dive teams. By Saturday afternoon, two rescue speedboats located all eleven tourists and one crew member alive.

The tourists were from the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and France. Two Indonesian crew were also on board. The captain has not been located.

For background on interpreting vessel activity around maritime incidents, our guides explain maritime safety tracking, coastal and deep-sea tracking coverage, and the accuracy of ship-location data.