Dozens Missing After Indonesian Ferry Sinks

Associated Press

June 19, 2018 7:13 a.m. ET

Rescuers searching Tuesday for dozens of people missing after a ferry sank on Indonesia’s Lake Toba have found bags, jackets, an identification card and other items in the water but no new survivors, casting a tragic pall over holidays marking the end of the Muslim holy month.

Police said 18 people were rescued and one body was recovered, unchanged from figures they and disaster officials released nearly a day earlier on Monday evening. Police also made public the names of 94 people confirmed as missing but said the figure is expected to rise as information from relatives is compiled.

Cellphone video released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency shows the crew of another ferry attempting to rescue people struggling in the water shortly after the sinking but being hampered by bad weather and rough water. Distraught relatives have gathered at major ferry docks on the lake, hoping for news of missing family members.

Budiawan, the head of the search-and-rescue agency in the nearby city of Medan, said the overcrowded boat was filled with an estimated 150 people and 55 motorbikes. Officials are relying on reports from the families of victims and survivors to estimate the number of victims. Budiawan, who uses one name, said the vessel didn’t have a passenger manifest.

Disaster-agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the boat sank at about 5:30 p.m. Monday as it sailed from the mainland to an island.

A survivor identified by Indonesian television as Juwita Sumbayak said the vessel was rocked by high waves and was hit a by a wooden boat before suddenly sinking.

“I was desperate. I was scared to death. I’m afraid my family is dead,” she said, weeping.

The 440-square mile (1,145-square kilometer) Lake Toba, formed out of an ancient supervolcano, is a popular sightseeing destination on the island of Sumatra.

Tens of millions of Indonesians return to their hometowns and take holidays at the end of Ramadan.

Police said that on Tuesday morning searchers had found several bags including one containing a mobile phone and ID, jackets and other items of clothing as well as traces of oil and a blue bucket and jerrycans suspected to be from the sunken ferry KM Sinar Bangun.

Bad weather continues to hamper the search, police said, of a lake whose depths reach more than 1,300 feet (400 meters).

Officials say more than half a dozen vessels and 350 people including search-and-rescue personnel, police, soldiers and fishermen are involved in the search.

Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with weak enforcement of safety regulations often to blame.

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