Two children reported dead as Indonesia ferry drifts in stormy seas

Hopes faded on Sunday for 78 people missing from a ferry that sank off Indonesia’s eastern island of Sulawesi, officials said, after 37 passengers were pulled alive from rough seas by rescuers in helicopters, fishing vessels and rubber dinghies.

Local search-and-rescue head Roki Asikin said powerful waves meant it took three hours to evacuate some survivors to shore.

Two ships are searching for the missing vessel, which has more than 100 people on board, the transport ministry said.

“(The boat) may be upside down now”, Azikin said.

The fibreglass ship was carrying 118 people, including 10 crew members.

When asked whether the boat had sunk, South Sulawesi police spokesman Frans Barung told reporters: “Maybe yes, maybe no”.

Two Indonesian medical team members… with a survivor in Siwa.

All four survivors of the ship, which was sailing from Kolaka in Southeast Sulawesi to Siwa in South Sulawesi, have been sent to Siwa Hospital.

Six rescue vessels were dispatched after receiving a distress call from the crew, who said the vessel was starting to take on water, BBC reports. They told authorities that the boat sank hours after being hit by high waves.

On Sunday, fishermen found four people, including a woman and a child wearing life jackets.

Police, national search and rescue teams and the navy have been scouring the water for survivors since but have been battling the weather.

According to website ManadoKota.com, the Marina Baru named boat had some 108 to 120 people on board before departing from Kolaka in southeast Sulawesi.

But across Indonesia – a sprawling archipelago of more than 17,000 islands – maritime accidents are common, with overcrowding, poor maintenance and treacherous weather often leading to disaster.