Posted 05 February 2006 @ 10:37
Updated 05 February 2006 @ 10:38
JAKARTA, 05 February 2006 - About 72 passenger are still missing from a ferry that sank in waters off Kupang in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, the Jakarta Post daily reported on Sunday.
Search and rescue teams are still trying to find the missing passengers, a local official was quoted as saying.
Most of the passengers on the ferry, which sank last Tuesday, are presumed to have drowned. Provincial administration official Frans Salem said rescue teams had as of Saturday found 34 bodies, not 55 bodies as previously reported. Rescue teams had found 125 other passengers floating in the seain the days after the accident, he said. Most of the passengers had life jackets.
Salem said the missing persons were believed to have been swept away by high seas or still be trapped in the sunken ship. "The number of the 72 missing victims, including six crew members, was compiled from reports from their relatives," Salem said. In line with procedure, the search and rescue team would continue searching for the missing people until Tuesday -- a week after the boat sank.
The government has deployed three naval war ships, a surveillance aircraft, a police helicopter, a police patrol boat, three tugboats owned by state shipping company PT Pelni and three vessels from state ferry company PT ASDP to aid rescue efforts, he said.
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