Indonesian ferry sinks, 29 dead

Rescuers yesterday desperately hunted for survivors in the waters off Indonesia's Sumatra island after a ferry sank in stormy seas, killing at least 29 people, officials said.

Nearly 250 people were pulled from the sea after the Dumai Express went down yesterday morning in heavy rain and huge swells off Karimun island, near Singapore, in the north of the Indonesian archipelago.

"There were a total of 291 people on board the ferry," Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre, said.

"The information we have is 29 people have died and 245 have been saved. This means 17 are still missing."

Overloading is common on vessels that ply the waters between the vast country's thousands of islands. The 147-tonne vessel had a capacity of 273 passengers and crew. Fishermen were among the first on the scene and pulled many of the survivors from safety, officials said.

"I saw children running here and there on the ferry as they tried to escape but there weren't enough life jackets," a survivor told TVOne.

Officials feared some of the missing may have been trapped below deck, such was the speed at which the vessel sank.

"Strong waves hit the ferry and caused the front part to crack. Water got in and within half an hour it sank," navy Lieutenant Colonel Edwin said.

"The ferry is underwater. We know its position but we have yet to check inside to see if there's anyone trapped."

Search and rescue efforts were suspended overnight, he said, and are to continue today.

Indonesia's 234 million people are spread across 17,000 islands and are heavily dependent on a network of ships and boats, which have a poor safety record.

Ferry disasters are common despite repeated official promises to tighten and enforce safety regulations.