Dozens missing after ferry carrying 65 people sinks off Indonesia’s Bali

Authorities accidental astatine slightest 5 radical person died and dozens are missing aft vas sinks disconnected edifice island.

At slightest 5 radical are dormant and dozens of others are missing aft a ferry carrying 65 radical sank disconnected Indonesia’s edifice land of Bali, authorities person said.

Rescuers are inactive searching for survivors aft the KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank soon aft leaving East Java’s Banyuwangi larboard precocious connected Wednesday, Indonesia’s hunt and rescue agency, BASARNAS, said connected Thursday.

Thirty-five survivors person been brought to information arsenic portion of the rescue operations, which see a chopper and 15 vessels, according to officials.

“The information of this vessel is afloat submerged, truthful determination is simply a anticipation that determination are radical wrong the ferry. But close present we are focusing connected the aboveground of the h2o first,” said Nanang Sigit, the caput of Surabaya Search and Rescue.

The bodies of the 5 victims volition beryllium taken to their families successful Banyuwangi, Sigit added.

Sea and upwind conditions were reportedly improving during the morning, aiding the hunt for survivors.

Banyuwangi constabulary chief, Rama Samtama Putra, said galore of the survivors were initially unconscious aft spending hours drifting successful the ocean.

Panicked household members rushed to the departure port, immoderate crying, arsenic they sought accusation astir their loved ones and hoped they were among the survivors.

A passenger’s comparative weeps aft a ferry carrying dozens of passengers sank adjacent the edifice land of Bali, astatine Ketapang Port successful Bayuwangi, East Java, Indonesia, connected Thursday, July 3, 2025 [Andur/AP]

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, ordered an contiguous exigency response, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said successful a statement, adding that the origin of the mishap was “bad weather”.

Maritime disasters are a communal occurrence successful Indonesia, an archipelago of astir 17,000 islands, wherever lax information standards often let vessels to beryllium overloaded without capable life-saving equipment.

In March, a vessel carrying 16 radical capsized successful unsmooth waters disconnected Bali, sidesplitting an Australian pistillate and injuring astatine slightest 1 different person.

In 2018, much than 150 radical drowned erstwhile a ferry sank successful 1 of the world’s deepest lakes connected Sumatra island.