An Indonesian ferry that caught fire last week, killing at least 42 people, sank yesterday as officials and journalists on board scrambled for safety. At least three people were missing after the incident off Jakarta, witnesses and Indonesian media said. Lativi television said one of its cameramen had been killed. The Levina I was on its way to Bangka island off Sumatra packed with hundreds of people when it caught fire soon after dawn on Thursday 80km from Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port.On Saturday the scorched hulk was hauled to a point about 10 to 16 kilometres from the main port in Jakarta and put at anchor, said Lieutenant Colonel Hendra Pakan, spokesman of the Indonesian navy's western fleet. "It had been anchored at the time, but it was tilting on one side," he said.
More than 10 people - forensic police, transportation safety officials and journalists - had boarded the ship yesterday when it began to sink, media reports said. "Some of us were given life vests, but others were not wearing [them]. Three people have not been found, and two people are in critical condition," SCTV reporter Agus Faisal Karim said over his own broadcaster. "We are safe, we are not injured, but all of us panicked. Some of us were in the water for a long time," he added.
State news agency Antara put the number of missing at five, a journalist, two transportation safety officials and two forensic police staff, and said three others had been hospitalised. The known death toll from the original accident had jumped from 20 to 42 yesterday. "Fishermen found 21 bodies," said Panji Nirwana of the national search and rescue agency. Rescuers later found one more body, another search and rescue official said.