26 people missing after ferry sinks in Indonesia

Officials reported 26 passengers were missing when a ferry ran out of fuel and started sinking off the coast of Indonesia in heavy weather on Saturday.

The country’s search and rescue agency said the vessel was carrying 43 people when it capsized on Thursday in the Makassar Strait, the sea separating the islands of Sulawesi and Borneo.

News of the accident only reached officials on Saturday, the local head of search and rescue Djuanidi, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, told AFP.

“Seventeen people have been rescued alive by two tugboats that were passing by. We have deployed a rescue team to search for the missing others,” he said.

A group of 40 rescuers were at sea searching for survivors, Djuanidi added.

Marine accidents are common in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of around 17,000 islands where safety standards are often lax.

Last week a ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in shallow waters off East Nusa Tenggara province and remained stuck for two days before being dislodged. No one was hurt.

On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, more than 150 people drowned in 2018 when a ferry collapsed in one of the world’s deepest lakes.