Ferry sinks in eastern Indonesia, 2 dead, dozens missing

But after several hours of battling bad weather and huge waves, no more survivors or bodies had been found since 31 people and 2 bodies were picked up by an oil tanker, officials said.

The KM Wahai Star was carrying 42 passengers and 17 crew when its engine broke down late Tuesday after encountering four-metre-high waves, en route from Buru Island to Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, said Situmorang Hutasoit, head of the Ambons harbour.

Other port officials said the ship may be carrying some 70 people since it had stopped in several ports to pick up passengers.

Antara, Indonesia's state-run news agency quoted another port official as saying that the boat reportedly sank in rough seas about 7-nautical miles from Ambon, which is part of the Mollucas chain of islands, 2,300 kilometres north-east of Jakarta.

Hutasoit said the ferry lost contact just before midnight Tuesday. On Wednesday, the bodies of two children and 31 survivors were picked up by an oil tanker, leaving 26 others missing and feared drowned.

"Rescue workers, comprising of marine police, policemen search and rescue officers, backed by two navy vessels and several other boats, as well as fishermen, were continuing their search operation," Hutasoit told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone.

"The weather is still very bad today - foggy and raining. Waves are also high and this is hampering our search operation," he said. "By late afternoon Thursday and after several hours of search, rescue workers have found no additional survivors or bodies." 

Benny Gaspersz, head of the provincial transport office, was quoted as saying the skipper of an oil tanker which managed to evacuate the survivors to Ambon port that a number of other survivors were still seen floating in the rough seas, but huge waves prevented their efforts to rescue them.

It was the latest sea disaster in Indonesia in recent months. In late December, a passenger ferry carrying more than 600 people capsized in rough seas off Java island, killing more than 300 of them.

In February, another ferry carrying at least 350 people caught on fire in rough seas off Jakarta Bay, leaving more than 70 people dead or missing.

Indonesia is an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands. Ferries provide popular and cheap transportation for the country's 230 million people, but safety standards are often ignored and overloading is common.

//Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA)