The ship was destined for the port of Gilimanuk in Bali, a 50 -kilometer trip, the National Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency said
At least four people have died and rescue teams continue to search for 38 missing, after a ferry with 65 people sinks near the tourist island of Bali, Indonesia.
Rama Samtama Putra, the Banyuwangi police chief in East Java, told France-Presse news agency that “twenty-three people were rescued, four dead”, according to a preliminary balance, around 7:50 am (01:50 in Lisbon).
Some of the rescued people were unconscious after having been drifting in busy waters for hours, Samtama Putra added.
KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank around 11:20 pm on Wednesday (15:20 in Lisbon), almost half an hour after leaving the port of Ketapang, the search agency of the city of Surabaya said in a statement.
The ship was destined for the port of Gilimanuk in Bali, a 50 -kilometer trip, the National Indonesian search and rescue agency said.
The ‘ferry’ carried 53 passengers, 12 crew and 22 vehicles, including 14 trucks, the agency added in a statement.
Nine boats, including two tugs and two inflatable boats, have been looking for the missing since Wednesday night, facing waves up to two meters high.
Maritime accidents are frequent in this Southeast Asian archipelago consisting of about 17,000 islands, where navigation safety standards are insufficient.
In 2018, more than 150 people died when a ferry sank in the toba, one of the deepest lakes in the world, on the island of Sumatra.
