In this picture supplied by the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), rescuers on a rubber boat seek for survivors after an overloaded ferry sank off Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, Monday, July 24, 2023.

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In this picture supplied by the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), rescuers on a rubber boat seek for survivors after an overloaded ferry sank off Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, Monday, July 24, 2023.

AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia — An overloaded passenger boat capsized off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at the very least 15 folks and leaving 19 others lacking, rescuers stated Monday.

The vessel was touring from Lanto village in Buton Central regency in Southeast Sulawesi province to close by Lagili village when it capsized simply after midnight on Monday, native search and rescue company head Muhammad Arafah stated.

The wood boat was carrying 40 folks however was designed for simply 20.

Rescuers had been looking Monday for 19 individuals who had been nonetheless lacking in tough seas, whereas 15 our bodies had been recovered and 6 folks had been rescued, Arafah stated.

Three inflatable boats, two fishing boats and 6 divers had been deployed to seek for the lacking folks, he added.

Thousands of residents had traveled to their villages to have a good time the regency’s ninth anniversary on Sunday, and many individuals had been transported by fishing or passenger boats.

Television information confirmed footage of individuals on fishing boats retrieving our bodies within the in a single day darkness, and grieving family members ready for info at a port and a neighborhood hospital.

Indonesia is an archipelago with greater than 17,000 islands, and ferries are a standard type of transportation. With lax security requirements and issues with overcrowding, accidents happen ceaselessly.

In 2018, an overcrowded ferry with about 200 folks on board sank in a lake in North Sumatra province, killing 167 folks.

In one of many nation’s worst recorded disasters, an overcrowded passenger ship sank in February 1999 with 332 folks aboard. Only 20 folks survived.