JAKARTA:
Indonesian authorities recovered the our bodies of 15 passengers and had been looking for one other 19 folks lacking after a small ferry capsized throughout a brief 20-minute journey close to Sulawesi island, the nationwide search and rescue company mentioned on Monday.
Of 40 passengers on board, solely six had been recognized to have survived the accident on Sunday evening, the company mentioned in a press release.
“All of the victims have been recognized and handed over to the households whereas the survivors at the moment are being handled in native hospitals,” mentioned Muhamad Arafah from the native department of the search and rescue company.
Photographs shared by the rescue company confirmed our bodies coated in fabric on the ground of the native hospital.
The reason for the sinking, which occurred at about midnight, was nonetheless unclear.
The vessel was ferrying folks throughout a distance of simply 1 kilometre (lower than half a mile) in Muna island, about 200 km (124 miles) south of Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province. The journey, between two small cities on both aspect of Mawasangka Bay, was meant to be simply 20 minutes lengthy.
Groups looking for the lacking had been diving on the location the place the vessel sank and patrolling close by waters in rubber boats, the company mentioned.
Ferries are a standard mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelago of greater than 17,000 islands, and accidents are widespread as lax security requirements usually enable vessels to be overloaded with out sufficient life-saving gear.