Rescuers: 58 Missing After Indonesia Boat Sinks
Rescuers: 58 Missing After Indonesia Boat Sinks
Rescuers said 58 people were still missing two days after a wooden boat
sank off eastern Indonesia -- revising sharply upwards the number of
people on board the vessel.
"The latest update we have so far is that the boat was carrying 70
passengers when it sank. With 12 people rescued, we still have 58
missing," rescue official Rebekka Gultom told AFP, adding that those
numbers include crew members.
Search and rescue officials said Sunday that only 27 people were on board and that 12 had been rescued.
"The manifest showed that it carried 27 people but it turned out that
the boat carried more, 70 people. We got the figure after families of
the missing people reported to us," Gultom said.
She said that search and rescue team had not found any dead bodies.
The boat, which was also carrying food and building materials, left
Ambon city late Saturday in Maluku island. It was lashed by towering
waves and strong winds two hours into its journey to Namrole town in
Buru island.
Indonesia's 240 million people are spread across more than 17,000
islands and are heavily dependent on a network of ships and boats, which
have a poor safety record.
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