Indonesian rescue team (BASARNAS) members carry out a search operation following a deadly ferry sinking off Indonesian island, Muna Island, Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia seen in this handout picture released July 24, 2023. BASARNAS/Handout via REUTERS
JAKARTA (Reuters) - At least 15 passengers were killed when a small ferry capsized during a short 20-minute journey near Indonesia's Sulawesi island, the national search and rescue agency said on Monday.
The other 33 passengers on board were rescued after the accident on Sunday night, the agency said in a statement, adding two of the victims were in hospital.
Photos shared by the rescue agency showed bodies covered in cloth on the floor of the hospital.
The cause of the sinking, which occurred at about midnight, was still unclear.
The vessel was ferrying people across a distance of just 1 kilometre (just over half a mile) in Muna island, about 200 km (124 miles) south of Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province. The journey, between two small towns on either side of Mawasangka Bay, was meant to be just 20 minutes long.
Teams searching for the missing were diving at the location where the vessel sank and patrolling nearby waters in rubber boats, the agency said.
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.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Gayatri Suroyo, Stanley Widianto; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor, Raju Gopalakrishnan)
