A ferry carrying at least 600 passengers broke apart and sank in Indonesia's Java Sea when a violent storm sent towering waves over its deck, officials said yesterday.
"We're afraid many have died," said Slamet Bustam, an official at Semarang port, where hundreds of distraught relatives and friends waited for news about their loved ones.
The Senopati went down around midnight on Friday en route to the Java port from the northern island of Borneo -- a 49-hour journey. Approximately 14 hours after the disaster, 66 survivors had been found, many of them drifting in lifeboats, officials said.
Authorities were struggling to come up with an accurate number of people onboard, as waves of up to 5m made it hard to reach the accident site.
In a last radio contact, the captain informed port authorities that the ship was severely damaged and capsizing, said local navy commander Colonel Yan Simamora.
"We all just prayed as waves got higher," said Cholid, a passenger who survived by clinging to some wooden planks, but lost his 18-year-old daughter. "The ship broke up after turning upside-down," he said.
Panicked passengers fought over life jackets as the boat capsized, sending cars crashing into one another in the cargo hold, he said.
Worried family members gathered at the main office of ferry operator PT Prima Fista, seeking news.
Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa put the number on board at 542, citing the passenger manifest, but ships in Indonesia often carry far more people than recorded.
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