JAKARTA, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Transportation Ministry on Saturday announced it had formed an ad hoc team to improve the safety of ferry transport for the tourism destination of Lake Toba in North Sumatra province.
The decision came after the tragic boat capsize incident on Lake Toba on Monday which has caused 184 passengers missing.
"We learned there was gap and inconsistent procedure implementation by local administrator there. I regret that it did not run well that led to improper ferry transport in the lake," Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said in a statement.
The ad hoc team is joined by experts from the Transportation Safety National Committee (KNKT) and National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), and will replace the local administrator over the lake.
Sumadi said the team would serve within a month to ensure the safety of ferry transport serving the lake, coordinate and train provincial authorities on how to properly organize the port so as to ensure safety for passengers.
Over capacity was alleged as the main cause of the mishap, besides bad weather that led to the ferry capsizal.
Indonesian authorities continue to search for the victims of the capsized ferry, deployed military instrument to locate the wreck of the ferry in the lake with a depth of over 500 meters.
Lake Toba is the world's largest volcanic lake, created from a super volcanic eruption that occurred over 74,000 years ago.
