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Scores pulled from site of ferry sinking

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 1, 2007

SEMARANG, Indonesia - Rescue boats scoured the sea on Sunday where an Indonesian ferry sank during a violent storm, picking up more exhausted survivors from choppy waters, but at least 400 remained missing, officials and media reports said.

Almost two days after the ship went down in the Java Sea, helicopters dropped food and water to a group of around 30 survivors drifting in a life raft after heavy waves prevented rescuers from approaching them, Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said.

"Pictures from the air showed they were all alive and waving for help," he said

Survivors told harrowing stories of the minutes before the Senopati Nusantara capsized around midnight Friday, as well as the struggle to stay alive in the hours that followed.

Waluyo, 50, recalled holding onto a large tire and seeing two of his children lose their grip and drown. "For 17 hours we held on, sometimes being turned over in the swell, but one by one the people fell off, including my two children," he said from a hospital Sunday.

Waluyo, like many Indonesians, goes by a single name.

By late Sunday, authorities had found 177 survivors, either clinging to wood, packed into life rafts or on beaches after swimming ashore, the state news agency Antara quoted Transport Department official Soeharto as saying.

Radjasa said at least 157 survivors had been found. It was not immediately possible to explain the discrepancy, though Indonesian government agencies and officials often give differing death tolls during disasters due to poor communication and coordination.

Ships also recovered at least 66 bodies, Soeharto said. The ferry is believed to have had 638 people on board, Radjasa said earlier.

Weeks of seasonal rains and high winds in Indonesia have caused several deadly floods, landslides and maritime accidents. Antara reported a cargo ship carrying 11 people sunk off Bali island on Sunday and two survivors swam to shore. The rest were missing.

[Last modified January 1, 2007, 00:24:19]