“An engine failure caused the boat to sink as it sailed near Selayar, a small island south of the larger Sulawesi”, said the head of the local search and rescue agency, Muhammad Arif Anwar. The crew was unable to repair the engine, prompting the skipper to call local authorities, requesting evacuation, he told AFP. The boat was already partially sunken when rescuers reached it on Thursday, according to Arif. Forty-nine people were rescued, one woman was found dead, and "24 people are still being searched for", said Arif. The vessel's manifest listed fifty people on board, but further verification revealed there were in fact seventy four, he added. It is common in Indonesia for the number of actual passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest. An Indonesian Navy vessel had been deployed to assist with the search, which is expected to continue into the night, Arif said. Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian archipelago, due in part to lax safety standards and inclement weather. In January, three Spanish tourists died when their boat sank off eastern Indonesia, and a 10-year-old boy was listed as officially missing after authorities ended the search. (Bssnews)