600 feared dead in capsize off Indonesia

A crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm that sent towering waves over its deck...

A crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm that sent towering waves over its deck, with the vast majority of the almost 640 people on board still missing, officials said on Saturday.

Raging seas hampered rescue efforts and about 14 hours after the disaster, just 59 survivors had been found, many drifting in lifeboats or clinging on to driftwood, officials said. No bodies had been found, leaving nearly 600 passengers unaccounted for.

8220;We all just prayed as the waves got higher,8221; said Cholid, a passenger who survived by clinging to some wooden planks but who lost his 18-year-old daughter.

Panicked passengers fought over life jackets as the boat capsized, sending cars crashing into one another in the cargo hold, he said.

Waves of up to 5 meters 16 feet crashed over the deck of the ship around midnight on Friday during the final leg of a 48-hour journey from the island of Borneo to the main island of Java, said Slamet Bustam, an official at Semarang port, the ferry8217;s destination, where dozens of distraught relatives and friends waited for news about their loved ones.

8220;We8217;re afraid many have died,8221; Bustam said.

Four naval ships were searching the area, but poor visibility was hindering their search.

Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said late Saturday after talks with rescue officials that 638 passengers and crew were on board the vessel and that 59 people had been rescued. Earlier, officials put the number on board at more than 800.

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Ships in Indonesia often carry far more passengers than recorded, making it hard for authorities to say with accuracy how many people were on board.

The ferry ran into trouble 40 km off Mandalika island, some 30 km northeast of the capital,

Jakarta, while en route to Semarang on Central Java from the port of Kumai on Borneo island.

In a final radio contact, the captain informed port authorities that the ship was severely damaged and capsizing, said local navy commander Col Yan Simamora.

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Worried family members gathered at the main office of ferry operator PT Prima Fista, weeping and demanding details about the fate of their loved ones.

Seasonal storms have wreaked havoc across Indonesia in recent days, unleashing flash floods and landslides that have killed more than 145 people and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes on Sumatra.

Earlier on Friday, a different vessel carrying around 100 people capsized in bad weather off the coast of northwestern Sumatra, killing three and leaving 26 missing, Radjasa said.

Ferries are a main source of transportation in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands with a population of 220 million.

8211;IRWAN FIRDAUS