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Accidents

VIDEO | Four dead, 30 missing after ferry sinks near Bali

Reuters

Four people died, 30 were missing and 31 survived after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near the Indonesian island of Bali, news channel MetroTV reported, citing Indonesia's Search and Rescue agency.

The boat KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving East Java’s Ketapang port late on Wednesday, the agency said on Thursday in a separate statement.

KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya

The boat was carrying 53 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as 22 vehicles, the agency said.

There has been no official statement on the nationalities of the passengers, but a manifest list broadcast by MetroTV indicated there were no foreigners on board.

A search for the missing is underway although it is being hampered by strong currents and winds, the agency said, adding it had deployed a helicopter to the location and 13 underwater rescuers.

Video provided by the national rescue agency Basarnas showed what appeared to be the body of one person being carried to shore from a fishing boat in calm seas.

Ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are common as lax safety standards often allow vessels to be overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment.

A small ferry capsized in 2023 near Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing at least 15 people.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Editing by Kim Coghill and Stephen Coates)