More than 190 missing after Indonesia ferry sinks
Harsh weather hampers rescuers
The New York Times
HONG KONG — Rescuers in Indonesia were searching on Wednesday for up to 190 people who were missing after a ferry sank in a lake during a major holiday, officials said.
Indonesia’s National Dis a s t e r Management Agency said Wednesday on Twitter that at least 166 people were still missing from the sinking late Monday afternoon in Lake Toba, a popular sightseei n g spot on Sumatra Island. Eighteen people had been rescued and one body had been recovered, the agency said.
As the day progressed, officials several times raised the number of people the vessel — which didn’t have a manifest — was carrying as family members provided information.
The boat was five times over its passenger capacity and equipped with only 45 life jackets, National Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi told a news conference. The latest information is that 192 people are missing, he said.
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslimmajority nation, and the accident occurred during Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Millions of Indonesians have been traveling home to celebrate the holiday, known there as Idul Fitri.
The disaster agency retweeted a Twitter post by an official, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, that included video of the rescue effort.
He was quoted by The Jakarta Globe as saying that the cause of the accident was unknown, and that search-and-rescue operations were being hampered by high waves.
Calls to the disaster agency failed to go through Tuesday. An automated message said one of the lines had been temporarily disconnected.
Reuters reported that at least 100 rescue personnel were involved in the search. The news agency quoted Sri Hardianto, an official at Indonesia’s transportation ministry, as saying that the wooden ferry had a capacity of 60 passengers but may have been carrying more.
Distraught relatives slammed Indonesia’s government for not enforcing basic safety measures on passenger boats and pleaded Wednesday for a bigger search effort.
Mr. Syaugi said the sinking occurred in waters more than 980 feet deep amid bad weather but only three-tenths of a mile from an island that’s popular with visitors to the lake.
It’s possible many of the victims were still inside the sunken ferry, said North Sumatra province police chief Paulus Waterpau.
The Associated Press quoted a survivor, Juwita Sumbayak, who said the ferry sank suddenly after it was hit by a wooden boat in high waves on the lake.
“I was desperate, I was scared to death,” she said. “I’m afraid my family is dead.”
Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands, is notorious for boat accidents, plane crashes and other transportation disasters.
Last Wednesday alone, the AP said, at least 16 people were killed in two separate boat accidents — off Sulawesi Island and near the city of Palembang.