Hundreds of tourists have been stuck on Karimunjawa Island, Jepara Regency, Central Java, due to bad weather.
Based on the statement from the Karimunjawa sub-district head Muslikin, there are around 305 tourists who have been detained on the island. They arrived in Karimunjawa on Wednesday, 21st December 2022 and the bad weather started the following day.
The passenger ship that runs between Karimunjawa and Jepara could not operate due to the high seas. Muslikin explained that the monsoon season takes place every December, which is marked by high waves.
Muslikin said that his team had collected data on all detained tourists so they would not run out of supplies.
“We are still collecting data on tourists. They just want to be able to go home soon because some have to go back to work. We have also set up a complaint post at the Karimunjawa District Office, in case someone wants to submit a complaint,” Muslikin said.
An officer of Kesyahbandaran, Class II Port Operational Unit Office of Jepara, Arif Setiabudi said that the hundreds of tourists will be transported by PELNI ship on Tuesday, 27th December. It is planned that the PELNI ship will arrive in Karimunjawa on Tuesday afternoon. After that, the ship will depart for Semarang.
Setiabudi added that the ship was planned to transport all tourists who got stuck on the island. They are scheduled to arrive in Semarang in the early morning of Wednesday 28th December. He hopes that all tourists can be evacuated immediately.
“The tourists will board at 5pm in Karimunjawa. Then, the ship will depart at 6pm and is estimated to arrive in Semarang at 1am,” said Setiabudi.
The passenger ship for Jepara to Karimunjawa has now been temporarily suspended due to bad weather since Friday. Tourists who want to go to Karimunjawa are asked to always stay cautious.
Meanwhile, fast boat services between Bali and the Gili islands have been suspended since 24th December due to poor weather conditions. It isn’t known how many tourists have been unable to leave the islands off the coast of Lombok due to the lack of transport services.