Feb 25, 2007, 9:55 GMT
Jakarta - Indonesian rescue workers rescued 21 more bodies from rough seas off Jakarta Bay on Sunday, bringing the death toll from a ferry blaze up to 41 as the search continued for more missing people, officials said.
Rescuers continue to scour the Java Sea for survivors Saturday 24 February 2007 after a ferry caught fire on Thursday. EPA/MAST IRHAM
'All 22 bodies have now already arrived at the Tanjung Priok harbour,' Lieutenant Colonel Hendra Pakan, spokesman for the Indonesian Navy's Western Fleet, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'With these new findings, the death toll now stands at 41 and the search is still going on for possible survivors or more bodies from the burned ferry.'
Pakan said the 21 bodies were found by several fishing boats as far as 45 kilometres away from where the ferry caught fire Thursday morning.
More than 300 people on board the Levina I ferry, which burst into flames about 80 kilometres off the northern coast of the Indonesian capital, four hours after it sailed from Jakarta's Tanjung Priok harbour.
Relatives of the missing persons were trying to identify them but witnesses said that most of the bodies were already beyond recognition.
Officials from the national search-and-rescue agency said earlier that nine ships, including seven navy vessels and two aircrafts, were searching for the people still listed as missing. Red Cross workers said about 90 people were unaccounted for.
The exact number of the missing people was unknown because different agencies issued conflicting figures about the total number of passengers, ranging from at least 307 to 400 people.
At least 274 survivors were rescued, most after jumping into the sea, but rescuers fear many passengers may have been trapped on the burning ship. Dozens of survivors were suffering from severe burns.
Investigators from the Indonesia's National Commission of Transportation Safety, were preparing to enter the wreckage of the ferry, which had been towed into harbour.
However, when a number of policemen, investigators as well as several television cameramen and reporters were on board the charred wreckage, the ferry suddently tilted and sank, leaving one reporter dead and three other persons missing.
Elshinta radio reported that Lativi cameraman, Suherman, was saved by the rescue teams but finally he was dead after being reportedly missing when the ill-fated ferry suddenly sank.
'There were about 16 people inside, and we all rushed for our own safety as the ship suddenly tilted and submerged,' said Mardianto, a reporter with Elshinta radio.
Frederick Kalalembang, director of the Jakarta's marine police was quoted as saying by local media that the ferry's captain and ship's navigator were being charged with negligence.
'As of yesterday [Saturday], the captain and the first officer of the ship have been officially declared as suspects and will face charges of negligence and falsifying documents,' Kalembang was quoted as saying by detik.com online news portal. 'If found guilty of negligence, the two could face up to 5-years in prison.'
Passenger numbers on Indonesian ferries are frequently inaccurate, and officials sometimes turn a blind eye to overcrowding.
The Levina I, a passenger and cargo ferry, was en route to Sumatra Island when it caught fire on Thursday morning. Authorities suspected that electric sparks from a truck laden with chemicals parked on the boat deck caused the fire and enabled the flames to spread rapidly.
It was the second major sea accident in Indonesia in less than two months. In late December, a passenger ferry carrying more than 600 people capsized in rough seas off Java, killing more than 300 of them.
Indonesia is an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands. Ferries provide popular and cheap transportation for the country's 230 million people, but safety standards are often ignored and overloading is common.
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