A total of 122 survivors of the ill-fated ship, which sank in
the vicinity of Mandalika island in the Java Sea on Saturday were
rescued up to Sunday morning, a radio report said on Sunday.
Fishermen found 18 other survivors on Sunday morning, adding the
total number of survivors to 122, but hundreds of others were still
missing, El-Shinta radio station reported.
The ill-fated ship under the command of captain Wiratno carried
542 passengers, 57 crew members, and 29 drivers of trucks and buses
on board when the accident occurred.
The Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) was reported to
have deployed three warships, one light aircraft CN-235, one
Fokker-27 and one C-130 Hercules to help evacuate victims of the
shipwreck.
Bad weather and high waves were reported to be hampering the
search and rescue efforts being made at the location by a team
comprising of servicemen, marine police and members of the national
SAR (Search and Rescue) agency.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said
Saturday night that the sinking ship was made in 1990 and still sea
worthy and not very old.
The minister said the vessel of 2,178 gross dead weight tons had
a capacity to carry 800 passengers and was equipped with sufficient
safety gear.
The ship was sailing from Central Kalimantan to Semarang,
Central Java, when it met the accident.
(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2006)
