AP News, December 31st, 2006
Rescue boats scoured the sea on Sunday where an Indonesian ferry sank during a violent storm, picking up scores of exhausted survivors from choppy waters, but at least 400 more remained missing, officials and media reports said.
Almost two days after the ship went down in the Java Sea, helicopters dropped food and water to a group of around 30 survivors drifting in a life raft after heavy waves prevented rescuers from approaching them, Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said.
"Pictures from the air showed they were all alive and waving for help," he said
Survivors told harrowing stories of the minutes before the Senopati Nusantara capsized around midnight Friday, as well as the struggle to stay alive in the hours that followed.
Waluyo, 50, recalled holding onto a large tire and seeing two of his children lose their grip and drown.
"For 17 hours we held on, sometimes being turned over in the swell, but one by one the people fell off, including my two children," he said from a hospital Sunday. "I could not do anything apart from pray." Waluyo, like many Indonesians, goes by a single name.
By late Sunday, authorities had found 177 survivors, either clinging to wood, packed into life rafts or on beaches after swimming ashore, Antara quoted transport department official Soeharto as saying.
Radjasa said at least 157 survivors had been found. It was not immediately possible to explain the discrepancy, though Indonesian government agencies and officials often give differing death tolls during disasters due to poor communication and coordination.
Ships also recovered at least 66 bodies, said Soeharto. The ferry is believed to have had 638 people on board, Radjasa said earlier.
Weeks of seasonal rains and high winds in Indonesia have caused several deadly floods, landslides and maritime accidents. Antara reported a cargo ship carrying 11 people sunk off Bali island on Sunday and two survivors had swam to shore. The rest were missing.
Witnesses said the Senopati Nusantara ferry shook violently and veered to one side after being pounded for more than 10 hours by 16-foot waves.
Witnesses reported seeing lifeboats with more survivors, and said most people had donned life jackets. Indonesia's tropical waters are warm, randing from 72-84 degrees, and people have been known to survive days at sea.
"I don't want to speculate on how long people can survive floating on the sea. We only hope they can survive," said Karolus Sangaji, a search and rescue worker.
Dozens of relatives gathered at Semarang seaport, desperate for news of loved ones.
Neneng, a 35-year-old housewife, stood weeping on a street corner.
"I'm worried about my husband. There has been no word if he is safe or not," she said. "I'll wait here until I get confirmation."
Four naval ships, police boats and commercial vessels, along with three helicopters and two planes, have been combing the area where the ship last had radio contact with port authorities.
Officials said the car ferry, built in Japan in 1990, had a capacity of 850 passengers and was in good condition. They said bad weather likely caused the accident.
The ship ran into trouble 24 miles off Mandalika island, about 190 miles northeast of the capital, Jakarta, while en route to Semarang in Central Java province.
Ferries are a main mode of transportation in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands with a population of 220 million. Accidents are common due to overcrowding and poorly enforced safety regulations.
In 2000, almost 500 people died when a ferry carrying Christians fleeing religious violence in the eastern Maluku islands capsized. A year later, 350 were killed when a boat carrying asylum seekers from Iraq and Afghanistan sank after setting sail from Java to Australia.
