Indonesia scales down search for ferry survivors
INDONESIA: Indonesia scaled down the search Tuesday for more than 230
people still missing two days after a ferry capsized in heavy seas off
Sulawesi island, officials said.
High winds and rough seas continued to pound the Makassar Strait
between Sulawesi and Borneo islands where the 700-tonne Teratai Prima
capsized and sank with some 267 people on board early Sunday.
Transport ministry maritime official Sunaryo said smaller vessels had
been ordered to give up the search and only four navy warships and two
patrol boats continued to look for survivors.
"We are facing very bad weather and rough seas. We don't want to take
any risks by sending small boats," he told AFP.
He said 34 people had been rescued since the alert was raised late
Sunday and only one body had been found, leaving 232 people missing
feared dead.
"We found more than 15 people during yesterday's search, including a
dead woman whose body was floating in the sea," he said.
Senior officials have said there is little hope any of the missing
passengers and crew will be found alive more than 48 hours after the
ferry was hit by a powerful monsoonal storm 50 kilometres (30 miles) off
Sulawesi.
The ferry, operated by private company PT Nur Budi and built in 1999,
was sailing from Pare-Pare in South Sulawesi bound for Samarinda in East
Kalimantan, Borneo island when it went down.
An investigation is underway amid claims that the vessel was
overloaded, inadequately equipped with lifeboats and ignored storm
warnings.
Survivors said most of the passengers were asleep when the ferry
suddenly listed to the left and capsized in heavy seas whipped up by a
tropical typhoon.
Some were picked up by fishermen after about seven hours drifting in
the stormy conditions. Two told AFP they had clung to bunches of bananas
to stay afloat.
Relatives of the missing passengers crowded search command posts on
Sulawesi overnight, hoping for news of their lost loved ones.
Sumaena, a teacher from Sulawesi, said five members of her family
were missing.
"We will continue waiting. Hopefully our family members have been
found alive like those who arrived earlier," she was quoted as saying by
the Antara news agency at the search post in Pare-Pare.
Another women, Rumaedah, wept as she waited for news.
"We heard that 21 passengers were found stranded on Ambo Island. We
hope they are our relatives," she said.
Indonesians rely on ferries to connect the main islands of the
massive archipelago, but accidents are common and safety regulations are
badly enforced.
This week's disaster is the worst of its kind in Indonesia since
December 2006 when a ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java,
killing more than 500 people.
Jakarta, Wednesday, AFP
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