Fisherman asks Unocal to pay compensation
Wednesday, May 10 2000 - 05:00 AM WIB
A fisherman of East Kalimantan asked oil and gas company PT Unocal and shipping company PT Aquaria Shipping Balikpapan to pay Rp 23 million (US$1=Rp 8,070) in compensation for the damage caused by Aquaria's tugboat chartered by Unocal on his fishing platform.
The fisherman named Iskandar said the incident took place on March 4 when the Badai Aquaria tugboat carrying pipes hit his fishing platform in the Teritip area, off the coast of East Balikpapan.
The incident was witnessed by his friend named Kadri who was then standing 5,000 meters away from the fishing platform, said Iskandar, who was accompanied by several fishermen when visiting Unocal's office in Balikpapan on Tuesday.
He did not explain why he filed the demand long after the incident.
Unocal's official Agustinus M said the company could not meet Iskandar's demand since the tugboat's crew denied the incident.
"We shall discuss the case with Aquaria Shipping," Agustinus said. (*)