A passenger boat sank off the coast of an Indonesian island, leaving at least one dead and 24 missing, local rescuers said Thursday.
An engine failure caused the boat to sink while it was sailing near Selayar, a small island south of the big island of Sulawesi, said the director of the local search and rescue agency, Muhammad Arif Anwar.
The crew failed to repair the engine and the captain called the local authorities for help, he told AFP. The boat was already partially sunk when rescuers reached it on Thursday.
Forty-nine people were rescued, one woman was found dead and “24 people are still being sought,” detailed Mr. Arif.
The ship’s log listed 50 people on board, but further checking revealed there were actually 74, he said.
An Indonesian navy ship has been deployed to assist in the search, which is expected to continue into the night.
Maritime accidents occur regularly in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian country made up of some 17,000 islands, often due to lax safety standards and poor weather conditions.
Three Spanish tourists were killed at the end of December when their boat sank off the east coast of Indonesia.
