Indonesian rescuers have found nearly 180 survivors from a sunken ferry, but hundreds remain missing nearly two days after the vessel capsized in mountainous seas.
Indonesians look for the names of their relatives on the passengers list of the ship that sank off Java
According to the manifest, the Senopati Nusantara was carrying 628 people including 57 crew. The figure of survivors rescued had reached 177 as of this afternoon. High seas and bad weather have hampered rescue efforts since the ship went down.
There was hope of dozens more survivors after several life rafts were spotted out to sea with people in them.
Anggit Mulyo Satoto, a national Search and Rescue official, said some of the rafts had as many as 20 people on board but had not yet been reached due to bad weather.
"We have dropped logistics to them for survival until rescuers come," he said.
State news agency Antara earlier said the bodies of 66 people had been located, many in waters and on beaches near Rembang on Central Java's coast.
However, Rembang police official Pitoyo Adi said that while fishermen who found the 66 assumed they were dead, some might be still alive but unconscious. That left the death toll uncertain.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he had urged rescuers to continue searching for survivors. "I'm constantly in contact with central and local officials on the effort to save our brothers and sisters," he told a prayer session at the presidential palace.
Survivors in Rembang told harrowing stories of the ship's last moments and their struggles to put on lifejackets and get into lifeboats just before the Senopati Nusantara sank around midnight on Friday. One survivor said the ship had started to roll over after struggling in high seas and heavy rains.
The ship was heading from Kalimantan on Borneo to Semarang in Central Java. It was the second ferry disaster in as many days after a vessel overturned on Thursday in rough seas off Sumatra. Two people on that ferry died and 26 were still missing, a rescue official said.
Ships and ferries are a popular means of transport among Indonesia's 17,000 islands, where sea connections are cheaper and more available than air routes. However, safety standards are not always enforced, and accidents occur fairly often