Nabiha Shahab, Rembang – Indonesian navy ships have renewed efforts to reach survivors of a ferry disaster who spent a third night on the open sea as continuing rough weather hindered the search for hundreds still missing.
"Navy ships are still searching now. We're still trying the best we can," Central Java navy commander Colonel Yan Simamora told AFP on Monday.
Fishermen and search and rescue teams have thus far found around 200 survivors following the sinking of the ferry off the coast of Java late Friday with some 600 on board, officials said.
The ill-fated ferry was en route from Kumai on Borneo island to the Javanese port city of Semarang when it sank. Initial investigations showed bad weather was likely to blame.
Eleven survivors and two bodies were brought in here at around 2am Monday. Search and rescue workers had to carry the survivors who were too weak to walk off the fishing boat which picked them up.
Deckhand Wawan, 20, was rescued after two days in the water. "I'd floated around since Friday night until the fishermen's boat found me sometime Sunday night, almost midnight," Wawan told AFP.
"For more than two days I held on to a lifebuoy until they found me," he said. "I saw at least four other people with me – they were all saved by the fishermen."
Other rescue efforts were focusing on three liferafts with around 30 to 40 survivors which were found by helicopters on Sunday.
Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa told ElShinta radio the survivors seemed healthy and had waved to the helicopters. But Simamora said bad weather had made it impossible to pick them up Sunday.
"We did try to evacuate them by air but the weather did not permit us to do so as the waves were up to four metres high and it was raining heavily," he told ElShinta, adding that food and drinks had been dropped to them.
Health department officials said at least 187 people had been rescued, with 130 treated in Tuban hospital and 57 in Rembang. "There are 187 survivors and almost 400 more passengers who are still missing," health department crisis control centre head Rustam S. Pakaya told the official Antara news agency.
Health workers were preparing for the worst and had brought in hundreds of body bags, he said.
Warships, fishing vessels and helicopters have braved continuing bad weather and rough seas to scour the waters off the north coast of Java since the "Senopati Nusantara" (Archipelago Commander) sank.
Meteorologists warned the bad weather would continue for the next few days. "The weather is still not conducive for sailing. We expect waves as high as two to four metres (six to 12 feet)," said Arif Triono from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Surabaya, East Java.
"Besides high waves... we also expect heavy and continuous rain with strong winds up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour," he told AFP.
Preliminary investigations showed bad weather was to blame for the accident, officials said as they continued to collect data.
"Our investigation so far shows that bad weather coupled with high and heavy waves caused the ferry to sink," said Setio Rahardjo, head of the National Committee on Transportation Safety.
"We have not had evidence of a collision or any carelessness by the Senopati," Antara quoted him as saying.
The vessel was carrying 542 passengers and 57 crew when it sank. It was licensed to carry 850. Ferries are a crucial link between the archipelago nation's 17,000 islands and frequently carry more people than officially acknowledged.
Meanwhile, all 11 passengers and crew were rescued after another ferry sank in rough seas off the resort island of Bali, radio reports said Monday. A third ferry carrying 100 people from Sumatra island to Bangka island capsized late Thursday, killing at least three people.