MSNBC Breaking: Ferry with 850 aboard sinks off Java coast, navy commander says

[IDemo]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16401103/

Navy officer: Ship carrying 850 sinks off Java
9 survivors reported, but commander says, ‘I’m afraid many have died’

BREAKING NEWS
Updated: 9 minutes ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A ship carrying around 850 passengers sank in a storm off the coast of Central Java, a navy commander told Indonesian radio Saturday, saying he feared many people died.

Navy commander Col. Yan Simamora said the Senopati went down at around midnight Friday while traveling from Sumarang on Central Java to the port of Kumai on Central Kalimantan province.

He told El-shinta radio that rescue workers have found nine survivors but that he feared the others may be dead.

"So far, the rescue team, using helicopters and ships, has been searching for other passengers, but limited visibility and bad weather is hampering the rescue," he said. "Because of the high waves and wind, I'm afraid many have died."

[DRoseDARs]

1. "And now back to live coverage of us waiting for pictures of Saddam Hussein's execution..."

eom

[saigon68]

7. That's more important anyway

The Chimpanzee is masturbating in his bathroom sink.

[IDemo]

2. kicking with more info

[krispos42]

3. I sincerely hope their emergency equipment was up to snuff

Many times more people die than needed because the equipment is missing or old and the crew is not well trained.

[IDemo]

4. This MAY be an image of the ship->

Can't tell a whole lot by looking at it...

[barb162]

5. this sounds really, really bad

[Lisa]

6. search conditions sound difficult

*Apparently the 9 survivors were washed up or had managed to swim to shore ... doesn't say that the searchers managed to find anyone in the water.



http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/30/indonesia.ship.ap/index.html

More than 12 hours after the accident, rescue workers in ships and helicopters had found only nine survivors, stranded on a nearby island, he said.

Navy Commander Col. Yan Simamora also said there were only nine survivors.

"So far, the rescue team, using helicopters and ships has been searching for other passengers, but limited visibility and bad weather is hampering the rescue," he told Indonesia's El-shinta radio. "Because of the high waves and wind, I'm afraid many have died."

Two warships were searching the area, hindered by poor visibility.

[ellisonz]

8. It sounds like a sizable ship...

but the ocean is too strong, they shouldn't have been out there in that weather (radar?).

[maddezmom]

9. 600 missing in Indonesia ferry sinking

6 minutes ago

SEMARANG, Indonesia - A crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm that sent towering waves over its deck, and the vast majority of the nearly 640 passengers were still missing a day later, officials said Saturday.

Raging seas hampered rescue efforts and about 14 hours after the disaster, just 66 survivors had been found, many drifting in lifeboats or clinging on to driftwood, officials said. No bodies had been recovered, leaving nearly 600 passengers unaccounted for.

"We all just prayed as the waves got higher," said Cholid, a passenger who survived by clinging to some wooden planks but who lost his 18-year-old daughter.

People fought over lifejackets as the boat capsized, sending cars crashing into one another in the cargo hold, he said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061230/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_ferry_sinks

[babylonsister]

10. Ship with hundreds sinks off Java

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/30/indonesia.ship.ap/index.html

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm that sent towering waves over its deck, and the vast majority of the 600 passengers were still missing a day later, officials said Saturday.

Raging seas have hampered rescue efforts and about 14 hours after the disaster, just 66 survivors had been found, many drifting in lifeboats, officials said. No bodies had been found, leaving more than 500 passengers unaccounted for.

"We all just prayed as the waves got higher," said Cholid, a passenger who survived by clinging to some wooden planks but who lost his 18-year-old daughter.

People fought over lifejackets as the boat capsized, sending cars crashing into one another in the cargo hold, he said.

"I was going upstairs to try to help my daughter, but the ship suddenly broke up and I was thrown out. I lost her," said Cholid, who like many Indonesians uses one name.

Waves of up to 16 feet crashed over the deck of the ship around midnight Friday during the final leg of a 48-hour journey from the island of Borneo to the main island of Java, 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.

more...

[kestrel91316]

11. In the warmer ocean waters of our brave new world, those

folks should be able to tread water happily until help arrives, right?

[intaglio]

12. in brief USS Indianapolis

also if it was a RoRo (Roll on/Roll off) the capsize may have been to fast (Herald of Free Enterprise).

And it was in a storm :-(

[Scout1071]

13. So scary. I took a ferry off the coast of Thailand and it was kind of scary too.

The boat was so overloaded. I was literally sitting on top of the boat, next to the ship's horn. Every inch had a human on it. And we were on it for an hour or two.

On the other hand, it was some of the most incredibly beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life.



Wow...when I googled Phuket Ferry...look at one of the first images that comes up:



A similar ferry sinking.

[Eugene]

14. AFP: More Indonesian ferry survivors found, hundreds still missing

More Indonesian ferry survivors found, hundreds still missing

1 hour, 10 minutes ago

TUBAN, Indonesia (AFP) - Indonesian fishermen and rescuers have found at least 177
survivors as ships continued the search for more than 400 people still missing after
a ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java, officials said.

Some 151 survivors were already on land while 15 others were on a Vietnamese ship
making its way to the Javanese port of Surabaya, the transport department said.

-snip-

The "Senopati Nusantara" (Archipelago Commander) sank late Friday off the north
coast of Java with some 600 people on board while en route from Kumai on Borneo
island to the Javanese port city of Semarang.

The ferry was carrying 545 passengers and 57 crew, port official Slamet Rahardjo
told reporters in Semarang. It was licensed to carry 850.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061231/wl_asia_afp/indonesiaaccidentferry_14

Also: Bodies of 66 Indonesia ferry victims found -agency - Reuters