At least 31 people died after a ferry sank near Indonesia’s Sulawesi island on Tuesday. The vessel was on its way from the port of Bira to Selayar island, just south of Sulawesi, AP reported.
The Sulawesi ferry, with at least 139 passengers on board, began to sink on Tuesday afternoon in rough seas. Amiruddin, chief of the South Sulawesi search and rescue agency, said there were 164 people on the ferry including the crew, and that at least 130 survived.
“We are still searching for three others who we strongly believe are still inside the ship,” Amiruddin said.
The vessel’s captain steered it toward shore, grounding it about 200 metres from land. Indonesia’s Director General of Sea Transportation Agus Purnomo said that people trapped on the ferry were rescued on Wednesday morning.
The incident came just a day after authorities called off a two-week operation to retrieve the bodies of about 200 people who were feared drowned in North Sumatra’s Lake Toba. An overcrowded wooden ferry had capsized in the lake on June 18. Three people were confirmed dead, 18 passengers survived and nearly 200 were presumed drowned.
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