GILIMANUK, July 3 — Indonesian rescuers have temporarily halted a search for 30 people still missing after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near the island of Bali with the loss of six lives, the national search and rescue agency said today.
The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving East Java province’s Banyuwangi port on its way to Bali late yesterday.
The rescuers called off the search this evening due to a “visibility problem”, said East Java’s rescue agency head Nanang Sigit to Reuters, adding that 29 people had been rescued so far.
He said the operation would resume tomorrow morning, with over 160 rescuers, including police and military personnel, deployed to conduct the search, backed by four vessels and several helicopters.
The boat was carrying 53 passengers, 12 crew members, and 22 vehicles. It was rated to carry 67 people and 25 vehicles, according to Indonesia’s Transport Ministry.
The search for the missing since this morning had been hampered by strong currents and winds.
Video provided by the national rescue agency Basarnas showed what appeared to be the body of one person being carried to shore from a fishing boat in calm seas. The passengers were all Indonesian.
One of the survivors, Eko Toniansyah, 25, who lost his father, told Reuters that the ferry suddenly began sinking and tilting, causing panic among all the passengers, who scrambled for life vests.
Another survivor, Bejo Santoso, 52, said strong waves had caused the ferry to sway around 30 minutes after leaving port.
He said that dozens of people prepared to jump as the ferry began to sink.
Ferries are a regular mode of transportation in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are common due to lax safety standards that often allow vessels to be overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment.
A small ferry capsized in 2023 near Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 15 people.
— Reuters
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