29 dead in new boat tragedy

PASSENGERS trapped on a stricken ferry off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have been rescued, an official said, as the death toll rose to 29.

The latest in a succession of boat tragedies in Indonesia began on the day officials called off a search for 164 people presumed drowned when a wooden ferry sank on June 18 in a deep volcanic crater lake on the island of Sumatra. The Sulawesi ferry – with 139 passengers aboard, according to its manifest – began sinking on Tuesday in rough seas.