Ferry sinks in rough seas near Bali; 7 dead and 11 missing

Rescuers are searching for 11 people missing after a ferry sank near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali

Indonesia Ferry Sinking (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Rescuers on Wednesday were searching for 11 people missing in rough seas overnight after a ferry sank near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali Seven bodies have been recovered and 39 people were rescued, many of them unconscious after drifting in choppy waters for hours.

The KMP Yunice sank about half an hour after leaving East Java’s Ketapang port late Tuesday, Bali Search and Rescue Agency chief Gede Darmada said. It was bound for Bali’s Gilimanuk port, a 50-kilometer (30-mile) trip.

It carried 41 passengers, 13 crew members and 3 canteen waiters, the National Search and Rescue Agency said Wednesday, revising earlier numbers.

The agency said 39 people were rescued and at least seven bodies were recovered.

Two tug boats and two inflatable boats have been searching for the missing people since Tuesday night, battling waves up to 4 meters (13 feet) high in the overnight darkness.

Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used as transport and safety regulations can lapse.

In 2018, an overcrowded ferry with about 200 people on board sank in a deep volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra province, killing 167 people.

In one of the country’s worst recorded disasters, an overcrowded passenger ship sank in February 1999 with 332 people aboard. There were only 20 survivors.