Overloaded boat catches fire in Indonesia - 23 dead, another 17 missing

Fire in an overloaded boat Zahro Express that was carrying more than 260 people has left 23 dead with another 17 missing. The boat was going from a port near Jakarta to Tidung which is a resort island in the Kepulauan Seribu chain.
Most of the passengers were Indonesians who were celebrating the New Year holiday. The Jakarta Search and Rescue Agency has indicated that at least five ships and a number of speedboats and rubber boats have been deployed in the search.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 2 January 2017.

The fire had gutted about half the vessel, and twenty bodies that were found inside the vessel were burned beyond recognition and were transferred to a police hospital for identification. The fire apparently broke out about 15 minutes after the ferry had left the port of Muara Angke.
The ferry’s passenger manifest indicated that only 100 were registered as passengers, along with six crewmen but, in reality, there were nearly 260 passengers.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Jakarta to pay $1.5 for every rat caught to contain rat menace

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is one of the world's most overcrowded and polluted megacities and it has launched a program to rid its streets of rats - the offer to citizens is earn $1.50 for every rat they catch. The authorities hope the such an incentive via the Rat Eradication Movement will go a long way to clean up the teeming city of about 10 million where enormous rats are a common sight on rubbish-strewn roads and in poor slum areas.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 19 October 2016.

The big rats are dangerous and could spread disease. Citizens have been advised not to use guns tyo kill the rats because a missed shot could hit some others. The captured rats will have to be handed over to local officials, who would make the payment and send the animals to Jakarta's sanitation agency for burial.
However, there is no guarantee the plan will work because a exercise in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi during French colonial rule backfired. There the rat catchers had to present the tails as evidence they had caught the animals. But many simply cut off the tail and released the rats which would return to the sewers and breed. Finally, the rat population did not reduce as had been planned.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Indonesia is losing nearly $5 billion every year due to illegal fishing in its waters and, New Zealand has agreed to help fight this menace. Therefore, bilateral talks have been held in Jakarta where NZ Prime Minister John Key and Indonesian President Joko Widodo have agreed to "combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and promote sustainable fisheries governance".
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After coming to power in 2014, Widodo has laid emphasis on turning Indonesia into a "global maritime axis" and, has, signed a separate agreement with the United States on maritime security and sustainable fishing.
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Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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