BALI - Indonesian rescuers were searching for 29 people who remained missing Thursday after a ferry sank and six people died the previous night near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.
A three-year-old boy and his mother were the most recent victims whose bodies were recovered on Thursday afternoon. The six bodies located by rescuers will be taken to their families in Banyuwangi, officials said. As of Thursday, 30 people had been rescued from the ferry’s 53 passengers and 12 crew members, Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, told Metro TV. The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving Ketapang port in the East Java town of Banyuwangi late Wednesday for a trip of about five kilometres to Bali’s Gilimanuk port, authorities said.
A helicopter and 15 boats searched for survivors with assistance from fishermen and people onshore. The overnight search operation focused on the northern part of a travel lane for ships, but the water current changed from midnight to morning and many victims were found in the southern area, Syafii said. “The condition of this ship is fully submerged, so there is a possibility that there are people inside the ferry. But right now we are focusing on the surface of the water first,” Surabaya Search and Rescue head Nanang Sigit said. (Jamaica Gleaner)
