Video footage on Australian media showed the father of one of the missing Australians reading a text from his son: “Hey Dad, Elliot here. I am alive, safe now, love you. Chat later.”
Father Peter Foote told reporters he wanted his son and friends to finish the remainder of their holiday.
“It’s been hard, but it’s all good now,” he told Sky News. “Can’t wait to talk to him. Wow, what an adventure he’s having, a story to tell. He’s come out the other end well so it’s all good.”
Accidents involving boats are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, as lax safety standards often allow vessels to be overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment.
In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world’s deepest lakes on Sumatra.
Last year, a ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in shallow waters off East Nusa Tenggara province and remained stuck for two days before being dislodged. No one was hurt.
#Australian #surfers #rescued #Sumatra #coast #Indonesian #missing
