26 passengers are missing after a ferry in Indonesia sank

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

Officials say 26 people are missing after a ferry ran out of gasoline and sank off the coast of Indonesia in heavy weather.

The ferry was carrying 43 passengers when it capsized on Thursday in the Makassar Strait, the strait that separates the islands of Sulawesi and Borneo, according to the country's search and rescue agency.

Officials just learned about the event on Saturday, according to Djunaidi, the local head of search and rescue, who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name.

 

"Two tugboats passing by rescued seventeen persons who were still alive.
"We've sent out a rescue team to look for the others who have gone missing," he said.

Djunaidi stated that a crew of 40 rescuers were at sea looking for survivors.

In Indonesia, a south-east Asian archipelago of roughly 17,000 islands with inadequate safety standards, marine accidents are widespread.

A ferry carrying over 800 people struck aground in shallow waters off the coast of East Nusa Tenggara province last week and was stuck for two days before being rescued.
There were no injuries.

 

On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, more than 150 people drowned in 2018 when a ferry collapsed in one of the world's deepest lakes.