JAKARTA, July 24 (Portal) – At least 15 passengers died when a small ferry capsized near the Indonesian island of Sulawesi during a short 20-minute trip, the national search and rescue agency said on Monday.
The other 33 passengers on board were rescued after Sunday night’s accident, the agency said in a statement, adding that two of the victims are in hospital.
Photos released by the rescue agency showed bodies covered in cloth on the hospital floor.
The cause of the sinking, which happened around midnight, was still unclear.
[1/3]Members of the Indonesian Rescue Team (BASARNAS) conduct a search operation after a fatal ferry sank off the Indonesian island of Muna Island, Southeast Sulawesi province, Indonesia, seen in this handout picture released July 24, 2023. BASARNAS/Handout via Portal
Portal graphics
The ship carried people a distance of just one kilometer (just over half a mile) on Muna Island, some 200 km (124 miles) south of Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province. Driving between two small towns on either side of Mawasangka Bay should only take 20 minutes.
Teams searching for the missing dived where the ship sank and patrolled the surrounding waters in inflatable boats, the agency said.
Ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are common as lax safety standards often result in vessels being overloaded without proper life-saving equipment.
Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Gayatri Suroyo, Stanley Widianto; Edited by Kanupriya Kapoor, Raju Gopalakrishnan
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