Indonesian fishermen on Sunday found 18 more survivors as navy ships continued the search for over 500 people missing after a ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java, police said.
The 17 men and one woman were picked up by fishing boats and taken to Rembang hospital, where most of the survivors of the ferry disaster have been taken for medical check-ups, Rembang police officer Suripto told AFP.
The Senopati Nusantara (Archipelago Commander) sank late on Friday off the north coast of Java with about 600 people on board while en route from Kumai on Borneo island to the Javanese port city of Semarang.
The ferry was carrying 545 passengers and 57 crew, port official Slamet Rahardjo told reporters in Semarang. It was licensed to carry 850.
He said the ship was equipped with two lifeboats, 47 liferafts capable of carrying 1 175 people and 1 125 lifejackets.
So far, some 75 people have been rescued.
Rough seas were hampering search and rescue efforts with coastal police and port authority vessels awaiting better weather conditions before resuming the search.
Navy ships KRI Pulau Limau and KRI Bengkoang searched through the night but other vessels had to return to port as waves five to six metres high hampered rescue efforts.
“The search efforts from Semarang were stopped last night because of bad weather. We will try again this morning,” port official Danir said from the 24-hour search and rescue coordination office in Semarang.
Rembang deputy police chief Widiatmoko said local fishermen had joined the search for survivors. Rows of traditional wooden fishing boats were anchored about a kilometre from the shore.
It was still not known exactly where the ferry sank but search efforts were being concentrated in the seas between Surabaya and Semarang off the north coast of central Java.
Officials said they lost contact with the vessel around midnight (5pm GMT on Friday).
Twenty-one survivors found in a life raft were brought into Rembang port on the coast late Saturday.
Looking very tired after their ordeal, they disembarked from a tugboat in front of a crowd of onlookers before being whisked away by police to the local hospital, where other survivors had also been taken for checkups.
Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa told MetroTV “we are using our maximum efforts to rescue as many people as possible”.
He later told ElShinta radio the ship had been built in 1990 and serviced in 2006, “so it should not have had any problems”.
“The huge waves had caused the ship to sink,” he said.
One survivor described panic as the ship rocked violently before sinking.
“Finally, at about 11.00pm, people were really panicking as we could feel the ship rocking violently. People were then asked to put on their life jackets and hang on to some floats,” Holit told ElShinta.
“We were all suddenly thrown into the water and floating on the sea, and I had lost my daughter,” he said.
“I hung on to a float and at 6.00am the next day a fisherman’s boat spotted us after hearing our cries for help,” said Holit, whose 18-year-old daughter, Lailatul Badriah, was still missing.
Radjasa said port officials should not have allowed the ferry to sail, noting: “When the weather is impossible, do not give permission to those ships.”
The local weather office said the seas north of Java would not be safe for navigation for the next two or three days due to tropical storms, the state news agency Antara reported.
Ferries are a crucial link between the archipelago nation’s 17 000 islands and frequently carry more people than officially acknowledged. Boats are also often overloaded due to lax safety standards. – AFP