The search for the people missing after a ferry sank off Indonesia’s eastern island of Sulawesi in stormy waters entered its fifth day on Wednesday (December 23).
The fate of as many as 70 people remains unknown.
Seven people have been reported dead, and 41 pulled out alive from rough seas by rescue teams, Alamsyah, the chief of the Disaster Mitigation Agency in the island’s Wajo regency, told Reuters.
Helicopters, fishing vessels and rubber dinghies are being used in the search.
Family members who were waiting anxiously at the information centre told local network TV One there had been no significant updates.
The vessel, named “Marina Baru”, was carrying 118 passengers and crew when it ran into trouble and went down in the Gulf of Bone off Sulawesi island last Saturday (December 19).
On Tuesday (December 22), two passengers were found alive, including the captain of the ferry, an official said.
According to the official, the ferry was sailing from Kolaka in southeast Sulawesi province to Siwa in South Sulawesi before it lost contact.
One survivor, a woman who gave her name only as Bertha, told TV One that passengers had heard a crashing sound, then the ferry jolted and water gushed in as it listed.
She and her family members were tossed off the ship and into the sea where they were separated by towering waves. (Reuters)