At least seven dead in Indonesia boat selfie accident
Representative Photo: People taking a selfie while sitting in a boat
Seven Indonesians drowned after an overloadedboatcapsized because of tourists attempting aselfiein a reservoir on Java island, police said Sunday.
The accident happened when all 20 passengers suddenly moved to the one side of the vessel to take a group photo on Saturday in the Boyolali regency, said Central Java police chief Ahmad Lutfi.
"The cause of the accident was overcapacity," Lutfi told reporters.
"The 20 people took aselfieon the right side then theboatlost balance and flipped."
Police added that 11 people were rescued but seven were found dead. Rescuers were searching for two people still missing.
Authorities said they will look into whether there was negligence by those managing theboatrides at the reservoir.
Lutfi said that theboatwas helmed by a 13-year-old.
Boataccidents are common inIndonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of around 17,000 islands, due to lax safety standards.
In April, rescuers were rushed to find 17 fishermen after two boats collided in West Java. Three were found dead and 13 were still missing when the search ended.
And in January last year, 10 people went missing after aboatcarrying 20 migrant workers to neighbouring Malaysia capsized off the coast of Sumatra island.