Makassar: Rescuers have pulled out 39 survivors and three dead from a passenger boat that sank in central Indonesia after being buffeted by high waves, and resumed efforts today to reach scores of others still missing.

The fiberglass ferry was on its way from Kolaka in Southeast Sulawesi province crossing the Gulf of Bone to Siwa town in South Sulawesi province, when it was overwhelmed by waves more than 3 meters high during stormy weather Saturday, said Roki Asikin, head of the search and rescue agency in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi.