Rocky seas hindered rescuers today as they searched for nearly 250 people missing and feared dead after a ferry capsised off Indonesia's Sulawesi island.
Rocky seas hindered rescuers today as they searched for nearly 250 people missing and feared dead after a ferry capsised off Indonesia's Sulawesi island.
About 250 passengers and 17 crew were believed to have been aboard the 700-ton Teratai Prima when it sank Sunday morning as it traveled from the western port of Parepare to Samarinda on the Indonesian half of Borneo island.
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At least 22 people, including four crew members, were rescued from the sea by fishermen Sunday before the military launched an operation at daybreak today. Indonesians generally don't know how to swim, and the others on board were feared dead.
Nearly 250 people were still missing, said Junaidi, a port official in Parepare, where some of the survivors were taken to a hospital.
He uses one name, which is customary in Indonesia. The ferry went down 50 kilometers off the coast off western Sulawesi.
Transport Minister Jusman Syafi'i Djamal said the captain who was among those pulled alive from the sea reported that 150 people jumped off the boat before it sank, but he did not know what happened to them.
"We have prepared a search and rescue operation, but now there are high waves hampering the process," Djamal said.
The ship, carrying about 18 tons of cargo, radioed that it was "hit by a storm" before it went down, said Nurwahida, a port official. He also uses one name.
The closest town to the accident site is Majene, about 1,370 kilometers northeast of the capital, Jakarta.
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