The trial of the captain of a boat carrying seven Japanese women during a scuba diving accident in mid-February began Tuesday in Bali, during which the defendant was indicted for negligence.
The accident left two of the seven divers dead. The five others only suffered light injuries.
During a hearing session at a district court in the Bali provincial capital of Denpasar, government prosecutor Ni Nyoman Martini alleged that the captain, Agustinus Brata Kusuma, 30, changed his boat’s location without waiting for the divers to surface.
Based on the accounts of the five survivors, Martini said, the group surfaced after a 40-minute dive off the island of Nusa Lembongan, a tiny island near Bali, late in the afternoon of Feb. 14, but the boat was nowhere to be found.
“The defendant committed negligence, claiming someone else’s lives … and also causing others to be injured,” she said.
Unable to afford a lawyer, Agustinus appeared alone in court.
When the presiding judge asked if he had understood the content of the indictment, he only said: “I didn’t leave them while they were diving. I lost their traces, then tried to search for them, but I couldn’t find them.”
Captain of boat carrying Japanese in Bali diving accident goes on trial | The Japan Times
The accident left two of the seven divers dead. The five others only suffered light injuries.
During a hearing session at a district court in the Bali provincial capital of Denpasar, government prosecutor Ni Nyoman Martini alleged that the captain, Agustinus Brata Kusuma, 30, changed his boat’s location without waiting for the divers to surface.
Based on the accounts of the five survivors, Martini said, the group surfaced after a 40-minute dive off the island of Nusa Lembongan, a tiny island near Bali, late in the afternoon of Feb. 14, but the boat was nowhere to be found.
“The defendant committed negligence, claiming someone else’s lives … and also causing others to be injured,” she said.
Unable to afford a lawyer, Agustinus appeared alone in court.
When the presiding judge asked if he had understood the content of the indictment, he only said: “I didn’t leave them while they were diving. I lost their traces, then tried to search for them, but I couldn’t find them.”
Captain of boat carrying Japanese in Bali diving accident goes on trial | The Japan Times