Key Points
- The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank 30 minutes after departure with 65 on board.
- A survivor of the incident said the vessel tilted suddenly, causing chaos as passengers scrambled for life vests.
- Strong currents, poor visibility and wind forced rescuers to pause the search until Friday.
Indonesian rescuers have temporarily halted a search for 30 people still missing after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near the island of Bali, with the loss of six lives.
The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving East Java province's Banyuwangi port on its way to Bali late on Wednesday, the agency said.
The rescuers called off the search on Thursday evening due to a "visibility problem", Nanang Sigit, the head of East Java's rescue agency, told Reuters, adding that 29 people had been rescued so far.
Sigit said the operation would resume on Friday morning, with more than 160 rescuers, including police and military personnel, deployed to conduct the search, backed by four vessels and several helicopters.
The boat was carrying 53 passengers, 12 crew members, and 22 vehicles, the national agency said.
The ship was rated to carry 67 people and 25 vehicles, according to Indonesia's transport ministry.
The search for the missing, which was ongoing since Thursday morning, was hampered by strong currents and winds, the national rescue agency said.
Video provided by national rescue agency Basarnas showed what appeared to be the body of one person being carried to shore from a fishing boat in calm seas.
Poor visibility caused the search for those missing to be temporarily halted. Source: AAP / EPA / Supplied / Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency
One of the survivors, Eko Toniansyah, 25, who lost his father, told Reuters the ferry suddenly began sinking and tilting, causing panic among all the passengers, who scrambled for life vests.
Another survivor, Bejo Santoso, 52, said the strong waves had caused the ferry to sway around 30 minutes after it left port.
Dozens of people prepared to jump as the ferry began to sink, Santoso said.
Ferries are a regular mode of transportation in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are common due to lax safety standards that often allow vessels to be overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment.
A small ferry capsized in 2023 near Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing at least 15 people.
