JAKARTA: Six people were rescued and one was confirmed dead from among an estimated 80 passengers on a ferry that sank on Monday in Lake Toba in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, a disaster agency official said.
The Sinar Bangun ferry sank in rough weather at around 5:30 pm (1030 GMT) near the town of Prapat, and was carrying passengers from the lake’s Samosir Island, Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPT) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Twitter.
Maher Tamba, an official with the local disaster agency, said at least half a dozen vessels were searching for survivors. Bad weather and high waves were hampering the search, he said.
Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, due to weak enforcement of safety regulations.
