Ferry sinks in Indonesia, at least 15 people dead, 19 missing

Indonesia's national search and rescue agency said on July 24 that of the 40 passengers on the ferry, 19 were still missing, while six survived.

The ferry sinking occurred around midnight on July 23 and early morning on July 24, and the cause of the tragedy remains unclear, according to Reuters .

Photos shared by rescuers showed the victim's body covered in a sheet on the floor at a local hospital.

“All the victims have been identified and handed over to their families, while the survivors are being treated in local hospitals. For the time being, 19 victims are still being searched,” said Muhamad Arafah, a representative of the local search and rescue agency, adding that one team will dive around the accident site, while another will search the water by boat.

The ferry sank while carrying people across a bay on Muna Island, about 200 km south of Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province.

Ferries are a common means of transport in Indonesia, a nation of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are common due to lax safety standards that allow boats to be overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment.

In 2018, a ferry sank with more than 150 people drowning in one of the world's deepest lakes on the island of Sumatra.

In May last year, a ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in shallow waters off Nusa Tenggara province and was stuck for two days before being salvaged, with no deaths or injuries reported.

Minh Hoa (reported by Thanh Nien and Women of Ho Chi Minh City)

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