At least one person died and at least 18 people were rescued after a ferry, carrying around 80 passengers, sank in Indonesia’s Lake Toba in North Sumatra on Monday due to rough weather, Reuters reported.
Indonesian authorities resumed search operations on Tuesday morning. “The [weather] conditions are better than last night,” said Sri Hardianto, an official at Indonesia’s transport ministry. Two ferries and a wooden boat are involved in the rescue effort.
Maher Tamba, an official with the local disaster management agency, told ABC News that at least six vessels were searching for survivors. “Bad weather and high waves were hampering the search,” he said.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 130 people on board the ferry, which was hit by high waves and strong winds. Cellphone footage showed passengers of another ferry throwing life jackets to several people in the water.
Ferry accidents are common in Indonesia, especially during the Islamic holiday of Eid, when thousands of people travel by land, air and sea to their hometowns after the holy month of Ramzan, according to Reuters.
Last week, a passenger boat overloaded with people celebrating Eid capsized off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, killing 13 people.
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