By Dicky Bisinglasi, AFP
Relatives wait for updates on the search operation Photo: AFP
Four people died, 38 were missing and 23 survived after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near the Indonesian island of Bali, the country's Search and Rescue agency said on Thursday.
The vessel sank before midnight on Wednesday in the Bali Strait as it sailed to the famous holiday destination from Indonesia's main island Java, Surabaya search and rescue agency said in a statement Thursday.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry told RNZ there's nothing to suggest New Zealanders were on the ferry which has sunk off Bali.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says 669 New Zealanders are registered on SafeTravel as being in Indonesia.
"There are no indications of New Zealanders being onboard this ferry," the ministry said.
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There has been no official statement on the nationalities of the passengers, but a manifest list broadcast by news channel MetroTV indicated there were no foreigners on board.
"KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya... sank about 25 minutes after weighing anchor," the Java-based agency said.
"The ferry's manifest data totalled 53 passengers and 12 passenger crews," it said, adding in a later statement that four people were rescued in the early hours of Thursday.
The agency said the boat sank on its way from Banyuwangi in eastern Java to a port in northern Bali but did not give a cause for the accident.
It said a rescue team and inflatable rescue boats were dispatched immediately and a bigger vessel was later sent from Surabaya to assist the search efforts.
The four known survivors saved themselves by using the ferry's lifeboat and were found in the water early Thursday, the agency said.
It said the ferry was also transporting 22 vehicles, including 14 trucks.
Family members and relatives wait for updates. Photo: STR
Accidents common
Rescuers said they were still assessing if there were more people onboard than the ferry's manifest showed.
It is common in Indonesia for the actual number of passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest.
Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, in part due to lax safety standards. Photo: SONNY TUMBELAKA
The ferry from Java to Bali takes around one hour and is often used by people crossing between the islands by car. It was unclear if any foreigners were onboard when the ferry sank.
Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago 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.
A ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in shallow waters off East Nusa Tenggara province in 2022 and remained stuck for two days before being dislodged with no one hurt.
And in 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world's deepest lakes on Sumatra island.
- AFP with additional reporting by RNZ
