200 Indonesian ferry survivors found

Updated at 5 pm

TUBAN: Indonesian fishermen and rescuers have found 200 survivors as ships continued on Sunday the search for more than 400 people still missing after a ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java, officials said.

Some 151 survivors were already on land while 15 others were on a Vietnamese ship making its way to the Javanese port of Surabaya, the transport department said earlier. 

"Besides that, there is one victim who is dead and is on board a fisherman's boat which is also bringing 11 survivors to Rembang at the moment," department official Soeharto was quoted as saying by the official Antara news agency.

A group of 17 men and one woman was picked up by fishing boats and taken to Rembang hospital, where most of the survivors of the ferry disaster have been taken for medical check-ups, Rembang police officer Suripto told reporters.

The "Senopati Nusantara" (Archipelago Commander) sank late Friday off the north coast of Java with some 600 people on board while en route from Kumai on Borneo island to the Javanese port city of Semarang.  The ferry was carrying 545 passengers and 57 crew, port official Slamet Rahardjo told reporters in Semarang. It was licensed to carry 850.

He said the ship was equipped with two lifeboats, 47 liferafts capable of carrying 1,175 people, and 1,125 lifejackets. 

Seventeen rescued people arrived in Tuban early Sunday and were treated for dehydration.

"They have not eaten for about two days. They were floating in the water for about 10 to 12 hours and then the boat couldn't get alongside because the waves were too strong," said Yuni, a nurse at Tuban hospital.

Search and rescue operations resumed Sunday with five warships and two police ships, ElShinta radio said. Rescue efforts were also bolstered by fishing boats and other private vessels despite continuing bad weather conditions. 

Navy ships KRI Pulau Limau and KRI Bengkoang searched through the night but other vessels had had to return to port on Saturday as waves five to six metres (about 17 to 20 feet) high hampered rescue efforts.

Rembang deputy police chief Widiatmoko said local fishermen had joined the search for survivors. Rows of traditional wooden fishing boats were anchored about a kilometre (less than a mile) off shore.

It was still not known exactly where the ferry sank but search efforts were being concentrated in the seas between Surabaya and Semarang off the north coast of central Java.

Officials said they lost contact with the vessel around midnight (Friday). Twenty-one survivors found in a life raft were brought into Rembang port on the coast late on Saturday.

Looking very tired after their ordeal, they disembarked from a tugboat in front of a crowd of onlookers before being whisked away by police to the local hospital.

Crowds of family members searched the lists of survivors posted at the Rembang district hospital, hoping to find the names of sons and daughters, mothers and fathers. 

"I hope the government can get on with the rescue as soon as possible because the longer it takes, the smaller the chances of survival," said Said, who had received a dreaded phone call that his mother had been aboard.

Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa had told MetroTV "we are using our maximum efforts to rescue as many people as possible".

He later told ElShinta radio the ship had been built in 1990 and serviced in 2006, "so it should not have had any problems". "The huge waves had caused the ship to sink," he said.

The local weather office said the seas north of Java would not be safe for navigation for the next two or three days due to tropical storms.

Ferries are a crucial link between the archipelago nation's 17,000 islands and frequently carry more people than officially acknowledged. Boats are also often overloaded due to lax safety standards.