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| The wooden boat was believed to be operating illegally, with no manifest or passenger tickets -- hampering efforts to estimate how many passengers may have been on board (AFP Photo/JON NST) |
Simalungun (Indonesia) (AFP) - As many as 192 passengers could be missing after a ferry sank into the depths of a volcanic lake in Indonesia, the search-and-rescue agency said Wednesday, tripling initial government estimates.
But the
agency's head cautioned that it was still unclear how many people were aboard
the vessel when it capsized Monday in Lake Toba, a popular tourist destination
on Sumatra island.
The
traditional wooden boat may have been operating illegally with no manifest or
passenger tickets, sparking confusion and a string of changing official
passenger estimates.
Indonesia's
disaster agency originally said some 80 people along with dozens of motorcycles
were on the overloaded, 43-passenger capacity vessel when it overturned and
sank.
So far,
four bodies have been found and another 18 people rescued, according to the
agency.
By
Wednesday, the official number of missing had jumped several times to 192
passengers.
Authorities
based the figures on reports from families whose missing relatives may have
been on the doomed vessel, but their accounts are difficult to verify.
If
confirmed, it would be one of Indonesia's deadliest maritime disasters.
"Many
people got on the boat without a ticket so it's unclear how many were on
board," Muhammad Syaugi, the head of the search and rescue agency, told
AFP.
Later at a
press conference, Syaugi added: "There are many people who have reported
their relatives missing, but whether they were on the boat or not we don't
know."
The search
has now turned to recovering bodies -- including those that may still be
trapped inside the sunken boat.
'Please
bring back my son'
"We'll
be here until they find my brother's body," said Nurhayati, among hundreds
of grief-stricken people waiting by the shore for updates.
"We
just want to see his body and take him with us."
Sobbing mother Suwarni pleaded for news of her son and his fiancé, both believed to have been on board.
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Rescue team
members prepare to search for missing passengers at the
Lake Toba ferry port
(AFP Photo/IVAN DAMANIK)
|
Sobbing mother Suwarni pleaded for news of her son and his fiancé, both believed to have been on board.
"Why
are the rescue teams so slow?" said the 55-year-old, who like many
Indonesians goes by one name.
"I'm
so disappointed -- there's no progress here. Please bring back my son."
Authorities
have deployed divers and underwater vehicles, along with about 400 personnel,
to search the enormous lake in an operation expected to last at least a week.
Lake Toba,
popular with international and domestic tourists, fills the crater of a
supervolcano that erupted tens of thousands of years ago.
It is one
of the world's deepest lakes and extends some 1,145 square kilometres (440
square miles).
The rescue
agency has said it plans to search as deep as 400 metres for the sunken vessel.
Images from
the scene Wednesday showed rescuers covering up the bloated body of a woman who
had washed ashore.
It was not
clear if any foreigners were on board the ferry or what caused the disaster.
Survivor
accounts said the boat began shaking as it struggled to navigate strong winds
and high waves about halfway into the 40-minute trip from an island in the
middle of the lake to shore.
Muslim-majority
Indonesia has been celebrating the Islamic festival of Eid since Friday and
millions go on holiday during the festivities, with Lake Toba among the top
destinations.
The deadly
disaster came just days after more than a dozen people were killed in an
unrelated ferry accident in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation, where many
people depend on boats to get around.
Traditional
vessels -- like the one in the Lake Toba disaster -- are rarely equipped with
enough life preservers and their condition can be dire.
Enforcement
of safety standards also tends to be weak, underscoring Indonesia's woeful boat
safety record.
In 2015 a
ferry sank off the coast of the island of Sulawesi, leaving 78 dead or missing.
More than
300 people are estimated to have drowned in 2009 when a ferry sank between
Sulawesi and Borneo.
Map of Indonesia locating the area where a ferry capsized on June 18 pic.twitter.com/k0OR3LfXpx— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 20, 2018