Many people were rescued after a ferry sank due to bad weather off the coast of Pulau Ternate Island (Maluku Indonesia) but 13 others are still missing.
KM Cahaya Arafah, carrying a total of 77 passengers and crew, capsized in waters off the island on Monday evening, July 18, as it was sailing to the nearby island of Halmahera.
Local villagers sailed out in longboats to help authorities in a ship with the search-and-rescue operation.
According to Fathur Rahman, head of the local search and rescue agency, 64 survivors had been evacuated to Tokaka village (close to the site of the accident) after villagers had found them swimming to the shore.
Rahman added that as of 03:30 pm local time, authorities were still looking for a total of 13 passengers.
Marine accidents are quite common in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of ~17,000 islands, where people rely on small boats and ferries to travel around despite poor safety standards.
In May 2022, a ferry with 800+ people ran aground off East Nusa Tenggara and remained stuck for 2 days before being dislodged. In 2018, 150+ people drowned after a ferry sank in Toba Lake, one of the deepest lakes in North Sumatra.