Ferry carrying 250 passengers sinks in Indonesian waters

A ferry carrying around 250 passengers and 17 crew has sunk in a storm in central Indonesian waters, officials said today.

Two-metre high waves battered the boat as it sailed from the island of Sulawesi to Kalimantan, the Indonesian half of Borneo.

A port official said the passenger ship went down early today. He said several crew members have been found alive, but the fate of the passengers was unclear.

Another port official said the ship had radioed that it was “in the middle of a bad weather and hit by a storm.”

Boats are a major form of transportation in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. Overcrowding and poor safety standards mean accidents are common.