Eleven dead, nine still missing after boat sinks in west Indonesia

Muslims perform an Eid al-Fitr prayer marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on Ampera Bridge in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo / AP

A speedboat carrying at least 78 people sank in western Indonesia, and rescuers were searching for nine people still missing in the rough seas early on Friday.

Rescuers have retrieved 11 bodies, mostly women and children, and rescued 58 people so far, many of them unconscious after drifting in choppy waters for hours, said Pekanbaru Search and Rescue Agency chief Nyoman Sidhakarya.

Local television footage showed people standing on an overturned boat trying to reach a fishing boat packed with survivors.

The Evelyn Calista 01 was carrying 72 passengers, mostly people returning from visits to their hometowns to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday with families, and six crew members, Sidhakarya said.

The boat sank about three hours after leaving a port in Tembilahan, a town in the Indragiri Hilir Regency in Riau Province. It was bound for Tanjung Pinang city in a neighbouring province in the Riau Islands chain, a 200-kilometre trip.

The cause of the sinking is still being investigated, but some survivors told authorities the boat swayed suddenly and capsized after hitting a large log while sailing in strong winds, local police chief Norhayat, who goes by a single name, said.

Two tugboats and two inflatable boats have been searching for the missing people since Thursday night, battling high waves in the overnight darkness, said Norhayat, adding that a tugboat pulled the capsized boat to a port before dark on Thursday to ease the search efforts.

Boat tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used as transport and safety regulations can lapse.

In 2018, an overcrowded ferry with about 200 people on board sank in a deep volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra Province, killing 167 people.

In one of the country’s worst recorded disasters, an overcrowded passenger ship sank in February 1999 with 332 people aboard. There were only 20 survivors.