Ferry Sinks In Rough Seas Near Island Of Bali, 7 Dead And 11 Missing

DENPASAR, Indonesia — Rescuers were looking for 11 people who went missing in high waves overnight when a ferry capsized near the Indonesian tourist island of Bali on Wednesday. Seven dead have been found, and 39 people have been rescued, many of them were unconscious after floating for hours in rough waters.

According to Bali Search and Rescue Agency head Gede Darmada, the KMP Yunice sunk approximately half an hour after departing East Java’s Ketapang port late Tuesday. It was on its way to the Gilimanuk port in Bali, a 50-kilometer (30-mile) journey.

The National Search and Rescue Agency said Wednesday that it transported 41 passengers, 13 crew members, and three canteen servers, updating prior figures.

According to the agency, 39 individuals were rescued, with at least seven dead discovered.

Since Tuesday night, two tug boats and two inflatable boats have been looking for the missing persons, braving waves as high as 4 meters (13 feet) in the nighttime darkness.

Ferry disasters are prevalent in Indonesia, an archipelago of over 17,000 islands where ferries are often utilized as a mode of transportation, and safety rules can be lax.

In 2018, 167 people were killed when an overloaded boat carrying around 200 passengers sunk in a deep volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra province.

In February 1999, an overloaded passenger ship sunk with 332 persons aboard, making it one of the country’s worst documented tragedies. There were just 20 people who made it out alive.