Indonesian rescuers widen search for missing after ferry sinks

GILIMANUK, Indonesia: Hundreds of Indonesian rescuers widened their search for dozens of missing people on Friday (Jul 4) after a ferry sank in rough seas on the way to the resort island of Bali, leaving at least six dead.

The ferry carrying at least 65 people, including passengers and crew, was making a 5km crossing from eastern Java island to Bali when it tilted and sank in bad weather late Wednesday, witnesses and officials said.

As of Friday morning, 30 people were still missing after 29 were plucked from the water to safety.

Rescue officials said one of the six found dead was a three-year-old boy.

Rescuers deployed assets to carry out searches by sea and air on Friday, widening their efforts along the coastlines of eastern Java and Bali, national search and rescue agency operations official Ribut Eko Suyatno told reporters.

"The land search rescue unit ... we ask to comb through the Ketapang beach from north to south. Also likewise for Gilimanuk," he said.

The ferry passage from Java's Ketapang port to Gilimanuk port on Bali – one of the busiest crossings in the country – takes around one hour and is often used by people travelling between the islands with a car.

Local rescue officials said the KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya vessel sank 25 minutes into its journey.

At least 306 rescuers were deployed Friday for the search effort, the Java-based Surabaya search and rescue agency said.

The search was temporarily halted overnight and resumed around 8am, Friday, in Bali.

Rescuers had deployed inflatable boats, a larger rescue vessel and a helicopter to aid the search on Thursday, made up of dozens of personnel, including navy and police officers.

BAD WEATHER

At least four survivors were found early on Thursday after saving themselves by climbing into the ferry's lifeboat.

Initial search efforts were hampered by bad weather, with waves as high as 2.5 metres (8 feet) and strong winds.

The ferry's manifest showed 53 passengers and 12 crew members but it is common in Indonesia for the actual number of passengers on a boat to differ from that document.

Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago nation of around 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards and sometimes due to bad weather.

In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person.

In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world's deepest lakes on Sumatra island.