Indonesia Detains 6 Californians on Scuba Vacation

Six Californians on a scuba-diving vacation apparently have been detained by Indonesian authorities for allegedly violating Indonesian territorial waters.

The six, plus the British captain of the ship and at least one other diver from Australia, were aboard a boat that was boarded by Indonesian armed guards last Tuesday while sailing in the Indian Ocean off the island of Sumatra, according to wives of two of the divers.

A duty officer at the American Embassy in Jakarta, Karen Brown, said: “They’re being kept on the boat. They’re all in good health.”

No charges have been filed by (local) authorities, she said, but “an investigation (by Indonesian officials) is going on.”

“They’re physically well, but under a lot of psychological pressure,” said Jennifer Craft, the wife of Cliff Craft, 43, of Whittier, a building inspector. Jennifer Craft said she talked to her husband via the ship’s telephone Friday night.

Carla Gibson, the wife of another detained diver, Pat Gibson, 47, a systems analyst from Van Nuys, said her husband told her that they had been sailing out of Singapore and were about 22 miles offshore when they were boarded.

According to the two wives, the men, members of a scuba diving club called California Wreck Divers, had not begun diving when the Indonesian boarding party arrived.

Other Californians aboard the boat are: Danny Commerford, 38, of Orange, a building inspector; Jim Vooris of the Los Angeles area, and Bob and Bruce Lanham of the San Francisco Bay Area.