Search on for ferry survivors

SEMARANG, Indonesia – Navy ships searched into the night Saturday for survivors from a crowded Indonesian ferry that sank off Java during a violent storm, leaving the vast majority of the nearly 640 passengers missing.

Nearly 24 hours after the disaster, just 59 survivors had been found, most drifting in lifeboats or clinging to driftwood, officials said. No bodies were recovered.

Witnesses reported seeing lifeboats carrying more survivors, the transport minister said, and one person on board the ferry said most people had time to put on life jackets. Other survivors reported panicked passengers fighting over life jackets as the Senopati capsized close to midnight Friday after being pounded by heavy waves for more than 10 hours.

“The crew kept saying ‘relax, relax,’ but it was clear the ship was not stable,” Irfan Setiawan told Metro TV station. “It suddenly veered to one side and the TV and fridges fell over.”

Setiawan said he was hit by debris and sank with the ship, but fought his way to the surface and managed to climb onto a lifeboat along with about 30 other people.

Others clung to pieces of wood or managed to swim to nearby islands in tropical waters between 72 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit.

Another survivor, Budi Susilo, said he saw three people drown after losing their grip on an upturned raft. “We told them to hold on, but they ran out of energy,” he told reporters after arriving at port on Java late Saturday.

Four naval ships, several other vessels and at least two aircraft were combing the area Saturday, but poor visibility and heavy seas hindered their search. Two naval vessels were continuing the search through the night.

Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said late Saturday after talks with rescue officials that 638 passengers and crew were on board the 16-year-old Japanese-built vessel, which had a capacity of 850 passengers.

Radjasa said the vessel was in good condition when it set sail and that bad weather was the likely cause of the accident.

The ferry was on the final leg of a 48-hour journey from the island of Borneo to the main island of Java when waves of up to 16 feet crashed over its deck, said Slamet Bustam, an official at Semarang port, the ferry’s destination, where hundreds of distraught relatives and friends waited for news about their loved ones.

“We’re afraid many have died,” Bustam said.