DENPASAR: At least six people were dead and dozens unaccounted for on Thursday after a ferry sank in rough seas on its way to the Indonesian resort island Bali, according to rescue authorities who said 29 survivors had been plucked from the water so far.
Rescuers were racing to find 30 people still missing at sea after the vessel carrying 65 passengers and crew sank before midnight on Wednesday, 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.” Rescue officials said a sixth victim — a three-year-old boy — was found dead on Thursday evening.
“All search and rescue equipment were utilised… resulting in the discovery of 29 survivors, and six (victims) who were dead,” national search and rescue agency operations official Ribut Eko Suyatno told reporters.
Nanang Sigit, the head of the Java-based Surabaya search and rescue agency, had earlier given a death toll of five with 29 missing at sea. President Prabowo Subianto, who was on a trip to Saudi Arabia, ordered an immediate emergency response, cabinet secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said, adding the cause of the accident was “bad weather”.
The search for the remaining missing victims will be suspended Thursday evening and will resume Friday, a Surabaya search and rescue officer said. Nanang said efforts to reach the doomed vessel were initially hampered by adverse weather conditions.
Waves as high as 2.5 metres (8 feet) with “strong winds and strong currents” had affected the rescue operation, he said, adding conditions have since improved. A rescue team of at least 54 personnel was dispatched along with inflatable rescue boats, he said, while a bigger vessel was later sent from Surabaya city. Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency chief Mohammad Syafii told a news conference that the agency sent a helicopter to help the effort.
Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2025