- Divers have recovered 52 bodies from the Indonesian transport ferry which capsized in rough seas earlier this month.
- The vessel issued a distress call on 13 September while travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan with 243 passengers and crew members on board amidst three-metre-high waves.
- Rescue teams successfully saved 108 survivors in the initial hours following the disaster near the Masalembo archipelago, but 83 individuals remain missing.
- Divers smashed the ferry's underwater windows to access the interior and retrieve bodies, with Search and Rescue Agency head Mohammad Syafii confirming that locating missing victims remains the primary objective.
- Authorities are preparing plans to salvage the submerged vessel from a depth of roughly 30 metres, while recovered bodies are transferred to a police hospital in Banjarmasin for formal identification.
IN FULL
