Ferry sinks; hundreds missing

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A ferry carrying hundreds of passengers sank in a storm off Indonesia’s main island of Java and nearly all were still missing 12 hours later, officials said today.

The ship went down around midnight Friday en route to Semarang on central Java from the port of Kumai on Borneo.

Slamet Bustam, an official at the Semarang port, said waves of up to 15 feet had crashed over the ship’s deck about midnight Friday. It was carrying 850 people, he said.

The passenger manifest listed 542 people, Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said.

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

More than 12 hours after the accident, rescue workers in ships and helicopters had found only nine survivors, stranded on a nearby island, Bustam said.