27 confirmed killed in ship sinking in Indonesia

JAKARTA, (Xinhua):- Rescuers have found 27 bodies and temporarily stopped searching for scores missing after a wooden ship sank in waters off South Kalimantan province on Monday, rescuer said on Tuesday.

The accident took place more than two hours after the ship with more than 100 people on board departed from Tanjung Dewa of the province at midday, Head of Search and Rescue Office of the province Rusli Ansyah told Xinhua over phone from the province.

The ship was heading to Sorongga, he said.

"We have found 27 bodies until today (Tuesday)," said Ansyah.

As many as 93 people have been rescued safely, he said.

He said that seach and rescue will resume on Wednesday at 08:00 a.m. local time after the rescuers, comprising of those from local search and rescue staff, police, navy and volunteers, temporarily stopped looking for the victims at 17:00 p.m.local time on Tuesday.

"We will search again tomorrow morning, the number of the missing is still unknown, but we believe that there will be still scores of those go missing as the number of passengers exceeds that at the manifest," he said.

According to Ansyah, there is no official data about the manifest but some said that the number of people on board is 106.

He said that the search and rescue will be carried out up to 7 days, but it can be ended earlier should all the missing persons were found.

Extreme weather was blamed for the sea accident, according to Ansyah.

Travelling by ship is a favorable transportation means in the archipelago country with over 17,500 islands.

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