Indonesian ferry with over 200 people on board sinks
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Updated: November 22, 2009 12:02 AM
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A ferry with 213 people on board sank off Indonesia's Riau islands on Sunday after being battered by bad weather, killing at least one person, police said.
Search teams are looking for survivors from the Dumai Express 10 which was sailing from Batam near Singapore to Dumai island in Riau when it ran into massive waves, Riau police chief Puji Hartanto told Metro TV.
Survivors were spotted floating at sea, Hartanto said.
Separately, another ferry, the Dumai Express 15 with 278 people on board, ran aground after it was hit by large waves, said Riau police spokesman Yasin Kosasih.
All passengers and crew survived, he added. The ferry was traveling between Batam and Moro island.
Indonesia relies heavily on ferry services to connect the many islands in the sprawling archipelago.
But accidents are common, largely due to years of under-investment in infrastructure and a tendency to overload ferries.
(Reporting by Karima Anjani, editing by Sugita Katyal)
