Kendari, SE Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Rescue workers on Sunday continued their search for missing passengers of an overcrowded ferry which sank off the Kolaka town in Southeast Sulawesi province the day before.

Chief of the Kendari Search and Rescue Team Joni Sitorus said on Sunday his side, along with relevant agencies such as the Indonesian Navy, Police, Transportation Office and Indonesian Red Cross were combing the area where the motorboat was believed to have gone down.

Data from the Kendari SAR team show 93 passengers escaped the accident and 12 others were killed.

Only eight of the 12 dead victims had been identified and four others had not. The eight were Musnira (21), Bustam (50), Takbir (23), Hj Naisah (35), Hafi (9), Hj Lina (45), Anwar (24) and Manda (20).

Sitorus said to speed up the search for the missing passengers, the Makassar search and rescue team sent a ship to assist the search effort on Sunday.

The ferry boat, Windu Karsa, left Bajoe port in South Sulawesi on Friday at 02.00 p.m. It sank in Lambasina waters about 10 miles of the Kolaka port just after midnight.

The cause of the accident is still unclear.

But survivors told investigators that the ship capsized hours after a leak was discovered in the rear.(*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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