The Jakarta Post, 7/11/2007 8:40:55 PM
Two die in missing ship incident
JAKARTA (AP): Two children died in a missing ship incident in stormy areas in Pulau
Tiga isle, eastern Indonesia province of Maluku.
The bodies of the children were found drifting away along with nearly dozens survivors
in the waters where the passenger ship carrying 70 people disappeared due to failure
engine midnight Tuesday.
Karim Tuanaya of the local port authority said that the ship KM Wahai Star was
carrying 53 passengers and 17 crew members when its engine broke down after
encountering three-meter-high waves, he said, but it was not immediately clear if it
sank.
An oil tanker plucked the bodies of two children from the sea and rescued 23 other
people, Karim said, adding he had not yet heard any reports from survivors about the
apparent accident.
"They are still on board the tanker, which decided to stay in the area because its crew
heard people screaming for help," Karim said.
A search was under way involving some ships, but huge waves were hampering those
efforts, he said.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelagic nation, has been hit by a series of sea
transportation disasters in recent months. In late December, a passenger ferry sank
in a storm in the Java Sea, killing more than 400 people. (**)
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