AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Wednesday December 12, 2001 2:45 PM
Death toll from Ambon boat explosion rises to seven
The death toll from a boat explosion in a bay off Indonesia's strife-torn Ambon island
rose to seven after the body of a young girl was found, the Antara news agency said.
The body of Meilan, 10, was found drifting near the Halong navy port in the Bay of
Ambon, Antara said.
The Kalifornia motorized boat was transporting Christian residents across the bay,
from Ambon's Gudang Arang area to nearby Galala, on Tuesday when an explosion
engulfed it in flames.
Forty-two people were injured.
A local military spokesman has said the explosion came from the boat's engine deck
and it was not clear if it had been caused by a bomb.
Fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Malukus has left more than 5,000
people dead and created some half-a-million refugees since sectarian violence first
erupted in the town of Ambon, on the island of the same name, in January 1999.
Local Christians, who were convinced the explosion was the work of Muslim
extremists, ran riot and set fire to the district council building. The blaze destroyed
part of the building but no one was injured.
The mob also threw rocks at other government offices.
Ambon was quiet on Wednesday although many civil servants refused to go to work
for fear of new attacks on their offices.
Ambon's sectarian violence has often taken place at sea. Last month gunmen in a
speedboat shot dead three passengers in another boat, also in the Bay of Ambon.
The conflict prompted the government to slap civil emergency rules in the Malukus
last year.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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