At least 15 people died Monday after a boat sank off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, according to search and rescue workers.
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The boat sank with 48 people on board just after midnight local time (5:00 p.m. GMT Sunday), the local office of the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.
Six people were rescued and taken to hospital for treatment while the causes of the sinking are investigated.
The other 27 missing passengers have been located and all the victims identified, according to Muhamad Arafah, head of the local search and rescue agency in the city of Kendari in southeast Sulawesi. The searches are thus ended.
The agency shared images of rescuers mobilized to search and several bodies of victims wrapped in sarongs and lying on tarps at a local hospital.
The boat was traveling between the villages of Lanto and Lagili on the island of Muna in southeast Sulawesi, local bureau spokesman Wahyudin, who like many Indonesians has only one name, told AFP.
AFP
Mr. Wahyudin clarified that the vessel was a wooden passenger boat and not a ferry as originally reported.
According to information from local media, the boat was overloaded, but Mr Wahyudin refused to confirm this, saying an update on the cause and consequences of the sinking would be provided later Monday.
In Indonesia, it often happens that the actual number of passengers on a ship differs from the ship’s logbook.
18-year-old Marlina, who survived the tragedy, told reporters the boat was “full” of passengers. “At first everything was normal, but suddenly someone shouted that water had entered the boat,” she said.
But according to her, the driver said, “It’s fine.” And “Eventually the boat capsized because the boat was full of water.” We fell. There was no wind or waves,” she added.
In the Southeast Asian archipelago, which consists of around 17,000 islands and whose inhabitants use ferries and small boats to get around despite inadequate safety standards, accidents at sea are common.
In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank on one of the world’s deepest lakes, Sumatra.
In May 3022, a ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in shallow waters off East Nusa Tenggara province and was stranded for two days before being refloated. Nobody was injured in this accident.