seas and strong winds were hampering the search for more than 300 people missing after a ferry sank in central Indonesia at the weekend, officials said on Wednesday. "We haven`t received any information from our crews on the scene. There has been a problem with our radio communication due to the bad weather," Navy Lieutenant Hadi Pangestu told Reuters. He said he had instructed other ships passing by the area to look out for survivors. Zainuddin, head of Pontianak port in West Kalimantan on the vast island of Borneo, said the ship sank around midnight on Saturday. "It was carrying around 325 passengers. So far an international ship has rescued 19 people including the ship`s captain," he told Reuters. The ferry, which was sailing from Kuala Sambas on the west coast of Borneo to Riau province in Sumatra, sank about 70 nautical miles northwest of Pontianak. The Harta Rimba (Wealth of the Forest), its engines out of action, was drifting when it was hit by huge waves late on Saturday, Zainuddin said. Another port official told Reuters the timber-hulled Harta Rimba was not designated to carry passengers. "The ship had requested a sailing licence to carry timber, it was not supposed to carry passengers," said Sukri, a port official from Sintete town. One body was spotted in the water but could not be retrieved because of the rough seas, Zainuddin said. But one of the survivors told Reuters from Pontianak that the weather had been normal when the ferry sank. "The weather was fine when the the accident happened. All I know is that there was a leak in the ship and it started sinking just around midnight on Saturday,"
said 23-year-old labourer Suherman. "I just jumped into the sea like everybody else. Luckily I found a life vest," he said. He was rescued with two
others on Monday evening. A hospital official where the doomed ship`s captain was being treated told Reuters the captain was recovering but was still unable to comment.
