Thursday, September 27, 2012

Indonesia ferry and cargo ship collide; 8 dead

An Indonesia passenger ferry went down Wednesday after a collision with a South African-flagged ship thought to be carrying liquefied natural gas about four miles off Bakahuni port in Sumatra. At least eight people died and more than 200 were rescued.

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan reported 208 crew and passengers were evacuated after the accident.

The ferry collided with the ship about 40 minutes into its 90-minute journey Wednesday morning, said Heru Purwanto, an official at Bakauheni port on southern Sumatra. The ferry Bahuga Jaya links Java and southern Sumatra Island.

"The ferry went down so fast after the collision," Purwanto said. It sank 20 minutes after the captain sent a distress signal, enabling 10 merchant ships sailing nearby in the busy Sunda Straits to immediately start rescuing passengers and crew, he said.

He said the manifest showed the ferry was carrying 213 passengers and crew and 78 vehicles. It has an official capacity of 300 passengers and 70 vehicles, although manifests are notoriously unreliable because tickets are sold on board to passengers who don't end up on the official list.

The cause of the accident is unknown.

For more of the Huffington Post story: huffingtonpost.com

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