Families of missing ferry passengers wait

Family members of the hundreds of people still missing from the Senopati Nusantara ferry that sank late Friday off Java's

coast continued to search for their loved ones on Monday.

In a waiting room at the Dr. Soetrasno Hospital in Rembang, Central Java, on Monday an exhausted relative, Hamzah, wept

quietly.

For the past two days she has searched ports and hospitals in two cities -- Tuban in East Java and Rembang in Central Java --

for her three relatives, hoping to see their names on survivor lists.

"I'm scared they have all died," Hamzah said wiping her tears with a wet blue handkerchief.

"I remember my grand-daughter, Della Puspita. She's two and a-half years old. Where is she now," she said.

Hamzah's son -- Agus Sugiono, 35, his wife Rusmiati, 25, and Della are among the estimated 400 people still missing four days

after the tragedy.

The ferry -- which left Kumai in Central Kalimantan on Thursday night on its way to Semarang, Central Java -- sank quickly on

Friday night with at least 628 people on board.

The government has since warned all vessels against sailing until Jan. 6 because the meteorology and geophysics agency is

warning of rough weather in waters off Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

As of Monday evening, the number of survivors stands at 199, while eight bodies have been found.

However, search official Capt. Hadi Siswanto told AP rescue boats were picking up scores of bloated bodies on Monday that had

so far been left in the sea because officials were concentrating on searching for survivors.

Workers at Rembang Hospital have built a makeshift tent morgue for the bodies.

Rumors of the passengers' fates constantly changed, putting more pressure on the waiting relatives.

"We have heard that the remains of many victims were still on Mandalika Island, but there are others saying dozens of bodies

have been picked up by fishing boats. Which (rumors) are true?" asked Siti, a wife of a missing passenger.

"I thought I was going to die there and then," Syahrul, a 21 year old palm plantation worker who was on the 3rd floor of the

ship when it suddenly veered to the left and began sinking, told AP.

"I heard people screaming from the second floor, 'Open the door! Help!'. Hundreds must have died down there," said Syahrul,

who was recovering in hospital Monday.

Another relative, Rustamadji, a retired police officer, was busy putting up missing posters with photographs of his family

members and contact numbers.

"I'm confused too but what else can I do," he said.

"Who knows if they have been found and what condition they are in."

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'I didn't even find out his name' - survivor remembers deadly night

Nadi Hadi Sutrisno cannot bring himself to forget what happened the night the ferry he was on sunk off the Java coast.

Recovering at the Dr Soetrasno Hospital in Rembang, Central Java, the 42-year-old's speech is halting and he often stares

into space.

Always at the front of his mind is the infant he was powerless to save from drowning.

"I didn't even find out his name," Nadi said Tuesday.

The non-swimmer was lucky to get hold of a life jacket moments before the Senopati Nusantara began to sink.

"Those who were elderly or sick couldn't get one," Nadi said.

Then the ferry's lights went out and passengers began crying out as they scrambled over each other to escape.

Trapped below deck with hundreds of others, Nadi felt the crowd's collective horror as the waters around them began to rise.

For some reason, he says, the doors to the upper deck were blocked or shut.

His story is backed up by other reports from survivors who said they had been locked belowdecks.

However, surviving crew members have denied this and said they tried to help passengers who were trapped.

Nadi managed to escape by breaking the window of his cabin with a chair. For some time he struggled against floating

furniture and hit his head a number of times, before he popped to the surface -- in the middle of a howling gale.

In the open seas, the waves were up to four meters high, he said.

Nadi survived the black night. The next morning, he saw a couple with a child, the mother covered with wounds. "They asked me

to save their son, and I promised I would."

"They then died, and their bodies floated away."

Nadi said he placed the boy on his neck and asked him to hold on to his hair, but eventually he felt the infant's hold

weakening.

When Nadi saw the boy had died, "I tied the body to my life vest, so we would still stay together."

But a large wave carried the boy away, he said.

Some birds dove down on to pick at some of the many bodies floating in the sea, Nadi said. Thinking of their families, he

tried to keep two of the corpses fastened to him -- but they were also swept away.

A fishing boat passed by but did not spot him.

Eventually he came across an empty rubber dingey and managed to climb on board. Shortly after a search and rescue team found

him.

"I can't say how happy I was," Nadi said.

At least 400 passengers are still missing in the disaster.

Bad weather has been blamed for the accident.

The boat, with the capacity to carry 850 passengers, is not believed to have been overloaded. The ratio of lifeboats and life

jackets to passengers is not known.

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Poor weather blamed for ferry disaster

More survivors from the ferry that sank off the Java coast Friday were brought ashore Monday but hundreds more are still

missing in the tragedy the government is blaming on bad weather.

Data from the National Search and Rescue Agency in Semarang said the number of evacuated survivors stood at 191 and eight

dead victims as of late Monday, with more than 600 passengers originally on board the ferry.

But even as search and rescue efforts continued, mass graves were being dug here and health department officials said they

had brought in hundreds of body bags, AFP reported.

MetroTV showed two excavators digging mass graves in a field, while rows of wooden coffins were laid out behind the hospital.

Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa blamed the tragedy on rough weather.

"(Rescue work) will continue for a week after the disaster. The process will be extended if necessary," Hatta said at the

Ahmad Yani Airport in Semarang.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said late Sunday he had urged rescuers to continue searching. "I am constantly in contact

with central (government) and local officials in the effort to save our brothers and sisters," he told a prayer meeting at

the presidential palace.

Hatta said the government would set up a team to investigate the cause of the sinking.

Survivors claimed one of the ship's engines died before it sank. Panicked passengers tried to save themselves but found there

were not enough life vests and lifeboats on the ship. Many jumped into the rough waters with only their clothes to protect

them.

However, Hatta said some of the ship's crew who survived the tragedy told him they made an effort to rescue passengers.

He insisted the boat was not overloaded.

"The government has only seen what was written on the cargo manifest. The number of people on board was 628," he said.

The ferry had the capacity to carry 850 people.

According to the documents, the ill-fated Senopati Nusantara, a 1990 Japanese-made ship, was carrying 542 passengers, 57 crew

and 20 car drivers.

The ferry left Kumai in Central Kalimantan to Semarang on Thursday night at 9 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive the next day.

It sank off Java's coastline, near Mandalika Island in Jepara regency, Central Java.

Rescue efforts went into full swing Monday, with the Navy leading the search for survivors along Java's coastline.

A raft with 10 people and several people holding onto tires were spotted Monday afternoon floating near Madura Island.

"They were passengers from the ferry who were being carried away by the current. They were still alive. They waved at us and

we dropped them food and drink," First Lt. Wisnu Wijayanto of the rescue team said.

Team member Mahfud said the aid comprised of dried bread, instant noodles and mineral water in sacks, which were tied to car

tires and thrown into the sea near the floating victims.

Once survivors' locations were known rescue teams would be sent to pick them up, he said.

"We've dropped 28 sacks, with four (sacks) hanging to each tire. I saw the victims reaching out to them," he said.

Toni Syaiful, spokesman for the Navy's eastern fleet, said rescuers were having problems coping with the numbers of survivors

and patrolling a 175 km stretch of beaches where they were being found, Reuters reported.

Earlier on Thursday another ferry overturned in rough seas off Sumatra. Two people on the boat are confirmed dead and another

26 are missing as of late Sunday, an official said.

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Search effort intensified for 400 still missing at sea

Search and rescue efforts continued Tuesday to locate survivors of Friday's sinking of a ferry carrying more than 600

passengers off the Java coast, as officials warned of more extreme weather.

The head of the Semarang office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Mochammad Chairon, said more extreme weather was

expected in the Java Sea.

"Strong winds, heavy rain and high waves will continue likely through the end of January," he said.

Authorities have recovered at least 200 survivors from the Senopati Nusantara ferry, which left Kumai in Central Kalimantan

Thursday night bound for Semarang in Central Java. The bodies of at least 11 passengers also have been recovered.

"The search and rescue efforts are focused on saving the living first. The search will concentrate on areas in East Java

province until seven days after the time of the accident," Central Java rescue coordinator Eko Prayitno told Reuters.

He said high waves and strong sea currents were pushing the bodies of the dead and the living eastward in the direction of

Surabaya, East Java.

Some survivors are still on life rafts in the open water, with food being air-dropped to them as rough seas and bad weather

prevent rescue craft from reaching them.

"Because of the bad weather, SAR (search and rescue) is using a fixed-wing plane for searching and a helicopter for dropping

food," Eko said.

Central Java Governor Mardiyanto said rescue operations would continue although poor weather has hampered the efforts.

He also said his administration would cover the medical expenses of all the survivors, as well as paying to transport them to

their hometowns.

"The provincial administration will assist in sending them back home. This is part of our responsibility, as well as the

ship's owner PT Prima Vista," Mardiyanto said.

One survivor, a 32-year-old man with badly injured legs who gave his name as Fadlan, recounted Tuesday his escape from the

sinking vessel.

"I broke a window on the deck and jumped out. It was raining hard and the waves were high. For two days I floated clinging on

to foam (from life buoys) before a fishing boat found me and transported me to a Navy ship," he told Reuters shortly after

arriving at the Central Java Port of Rembang.

According to the manifest, the Senopati Nusantara ferry was carrying 628 people, including 57 crew.

Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa has said the 1990 Japanese-built, 2,178-tonne ship was seaworthy and had a capacity to

carry 850 people.

This was the second ferry accident in the last week of 2006 after a vessel overturned Thursday in rough seas off Sumatra. Two

people on that ferry died and 26 were still missing as of late Sunday, a rescue official said.

Ships and ferries are a popular means of transportation among the country's 17,000 islands. However, safety standards are not

always enforced and accidents occur fairly often.

*Thanks to Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post Semarang