Official Statement - Sumatra Earthquake & Tsunami

This morning at approx 2am EST a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit the Sumatran coastline in Indonesia.  The Perfect Wave have 32 clients in the area at the time and the first priority of TPW team this morning was to ensure that all these clients were safe and well.

The Earthquake created a 3 meter high tsunami which washed through Macaronis Bay where Midas and Freedom were parked. Midas was hit by Freedom and caught on fire and all guests jumped overboard. 9 Midas guests and 5 crew were washed into the jungle and took more than an hour to find their way back to the beach, where they were picked up by another boat we represent, D'Bora. D'Bora picked up our Midas guests who are all safe apart from suffering some smoke inhalation and minor scratches. Joey Melroy, surfguide on D'Bora said that there was a lot of debris floating in the water including bar stools and other pieces of furniture from Macaronis Resort. No news on the state of the village at Silabu. Everyone onboard both boats are OK and we will be bringing them home over night on the Freedom. We are working with Dept of Foreign Affairs to organize replacement passports for the groups as well as organize flights home asap.

We had 6 clients at Macaronis Resort and we have just received word from Joey on the D'Bora about their safety. "D'Bora went from harbour at Sikakap back to check on Maccas Resort. Resort all but gone. Guests and staff all safe and accounted for. All in village. Big SW storm just blew up. D"Bora heading back to Sikakap and will do assessments of village in the channel". We have also been working with Dept of Foreign Affairs to organize replacement passports for the groups as well as organize flights home asap.

The other 17 guests we have in the area are on the MV Addiction and Nusantara and all were in different areas of the Island chain. Some felt the effects of the earthquake and others had no idea that there was even an earthquake until we spoke to them. These guests will be continuing their charters and assisting local villages were possible.

As we hear any more news or updates on the situation over in the Mentawai, we will release this via our Blog or Facebook pages.

We here at TPW will continue to work tirelessly until all our clients are safe and sound at home with their love ones.

Thank You

Jamie Gray 

Managing Director