Nearly 250 people are feared dead in Indonesian waters after a ferry capsized in a severe storm. Eighteen people, including the vessel's captain, were rescued by fishing boats after the ferry sank about 50km off the coast off western Sulawesi at about 4am (20:00 GMT) local time on Sunday, but the fate of the remaining passengers and crew remains unclear.Jusman Syafi'i Djamal, the transport minister, said there had been a tropical cyclone that caused tides of five or six metres during the sinking and the high waves were hampering rescue operations. Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the ministry, said it was unclear whether passengers had lifejackets on when the ship was hit. "It happened at dawn [so] most people were probably asleep," Ervan said.
The 700-tonne Teratai Prima sank en route from the western port of Parepare on the island of Sulawesi to Samarinda, East Kalimantan. The ship, carrying around 18 tonnes of cargo, had radioed that it was "hit by a storm" before it went down, port officials said.
Sea accidents routinely claim hundreds of lives each year in Indonesia, largely due to poor enforcement of safety regulations and overcrowding. But Ervan said the Teratai Prima, with a capacity of 300 passengers, was not overloaded.