On the island of Rote in West Timor, Meji Nafi prays before an empty grave in her front yard.
Her husband, Captain Johanis Balu, was one of nine Indonesian fishermen who drowned at sea in March, in remote waters off Australia’s north-west coast.
Their bodies were never found, despite an intensive rescue operation involving a helicopter crew from Western Australia, the Australian navy and a passing cargo ship.
“The custom here is when someone dies at sea we have a grave to remember him by, so children and grandchildren know their father or grandfather has drowned.”
The mens’ boat, Kuda Laut or ‘seahorse’, capsized in stormy seas west of Ashmore Reef, as Tropical Cyclone Charlotte bore down on them about 630 kilometres north of Broome.
Only a day earlier they had set sail from the port of Papela, and when the weather suddenly closed in they tried to turn back.
But it was too late. A giant wave suddenly upturned the boat, sending the men into the ocean.
The nine crew who drowned could all swim.
Those who couldn’t swim were the ones who survived after they managed to build a makeshift raft from the boat’s debris, keeping them afloat for two or three days until they were finally rescued.