JAKARTA – At least four people were dead and dozens unaccounted for on July 3 after a ferry sank on its way to the resort island of Bali, according to rescue authorities, who said 31 survivors had been plucked from the water so far.
Rescuers were still racing to find 30 people still missing at sea after the vessel carrying 65 passengers and crew sank before midnight on July 2 as it sailed to the popular holiday destination from Indonesia’s main island Java.
“The ferry tilted and immediately sank,” survivor Eka Toniansyah told reporters at a Bali hospital.
“Most of the passengers were from Indonesia. I was with my father. My father is dead.”
Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency chief Mohammad Syafii told a news conference on July 3 that 31 survivors had been found.
“Four people died, so 30 people are still being searched for,” he said, adding the national agency sent a helicopter to help the effort.
President Prabowo Subianto, who was on a trip to Saudi Arabia, ordered an immediate emergency response, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement on July 3, adding the cause of the accident was “bad weather”.
