Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The MV Labobar, a ship carrying 2,349 migrant workers from Jidda, Saudi Arabia, arrived at Jakarta`s Tanjung Priok seaport here Wednesday at around 4.30 am local time.

The ship had left Jidda on April 22, 2011, and made a transit at Teluk Bayur seaport in Padang, West Sumatra, on May 2.

The ship`s arrival in Tanjung Priok was one and half hour earlier than scheduled at 6 am.

Upon the ship`s arrival, 12 passengers were rushed to hospitals because of illnesses such as stroke, heart problems, tuberculosis (TBC), tumor, hemorrhage, and measles, Imam Bukhori of the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers Overseas (BNP2TKI) said here Wednesday.

The 12 patients were taken to Persahabatan Hospital and Koja Hospital for further medical treatment.

There were also four paralyzed people among the just arrived migrant workers but they were not sent to hospital.

Meanwhile, the body of Musrifah (50), one of the migrant workers (TKI) who died on Saturday (April 30) aboard the "Labobar", was taken to Kramat Jati Police Hospital, East Jakarta, Wednesday (May 4).

"Her body would be given formaldehyde before being flown (to her home town in Pontianak, West Kalimantan) at 2.30 pm," Khusnul, an official of BNP2TKI, said.

The 2,349 Indonesian migrant workers (TKIs) who had overstayed their visas were repatriated by the Indonesian government aboard the "Labobar" ship from Jidda port on Friday night (April 22) or Saturday April 23, Western Indonesia Time (WIB).

However, the number changed to 2,352 because during the voyage four expecting mothers gave birth to four babies and one female worker (Musrifah) died.

Earlier, the government had returned a total of 2,073 over-stayer TKIs in four batches in the period of Feb. 14 - March 19, 2011 by Garuda airplanes. (*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011