Komodo Islands News

Bad weather was hampering a desperate search on Monday for two foreign tourists still missing after a boat travelling between two Indonesian islands sank at the weekend, although 13 more people had been plucked from the water alive, officials said. A small cruise ship carrying 20 foreign tourists and five Indonesian crew sank on Saturday night as it sailed between Lombok and Komodo islands. Indonesian authorities had said as many as 15 of the tourists were missing overnight. However, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the national disaster management agency, said 13 more people, including eight tourists and all five Indonesian crew, had been rescued in the hours since then.

Fifteen foreign tourists were missing on Sunday after a boat travelling between islands in eastern Indonesia sank, an Indonesian search-and-rescue official said. Suryaman, based on the island of Lombok, told Reuters that 10 people had been rescued after the ship sank on its way from that island to Komodo Islands. He said he did not know the fate of the other 15 people on the vessel, which had a crew of five Indonesians and was carrying 20 foreigners. The vessel left Lombok on Thursday night and sank on Saturday about 7 pm local time "and we only received a report at 8 am (on Sunday)," said Suryaman, adding that poor communication caused a delay in deploying a search-and-rescue team. Local fishermen rescued five people before the team arrived, he said.