Indonesia – Rescue crews were searching for 11 missing people in rough waters on Wednesday after a ferry sank near the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Seven bodies have been recovered and 39 people were rescued, many of them unconscious after being adrift for hours.
The KMP Yunice sank about half an hour after leaving the port of Ketapang in East Java on Tuesday night, said the director of the Bali Search and Rescue Agency, Gede Darmada. The vessel was heading to the port of Gilimanuk, Bali, 30 miles away.
The boat was carrying 41 passengers, 13 crew members and 3 waiters, the National Search and Rescue Agency said. The agency noted that 39 people were rescued and at least seven bodies were recovered.
Two tow boats and two inflatable rafts have been part of the search operations since Tuesday night, sailing in waves up to 13 feet high and in the dark.
OTHER TRAGEDIES OF FERRYS IN INDONESIA
Ferry accidents are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are commonly used as a means of transportation.
In 2018, a ferry with about 200 people sank into a deep volcanic lake in North Sumatra province, killing 167 people.
In 1999, one of the worst disasters in the country’s history occurred, when a passenger ship with 332 people on board sank and there were only 20 survivors.