At least 15 dead after wooden boat sinks off Indonesia's Sulawesi island

The boat sank just after midnight (1700 GMT on Sunday) with 48 people on board, the local office of Indonesia's search and rescue agency said in a statement.

Published on: Jul 24, 2023 1:20 PM IST

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At least 15 people were killed after a wooden boat sank off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Monday. Search and rescue officials said that all missing passengers had been accounted for. The cause of the sinking was being investigated.  (AP)

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27 other passengers had been accounted for and all the victims had been identified, Muhamad Arafah, head of the local search and rescue agency in Kendari city in Southeast Sulawesi, said in the statement.  (REUTERS)

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Six people were rescued and taken to hospital for treatment, it added, and the cause of the sinking was being investigated.  (REUTERS)

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Arafah declared that the operation had now been "declared finished and closed". (AFP)

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According to a local rescue office spokesperson Wahyudin, the vessel was a wooden passenger boat and not a ferry as initially reported.  (REUTERS)

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The rescue agency shared images of several dead bodies covered by sarongs laid on tarpaulin at a local hospital.  (REUTERS)

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The vessel was ferrying people across a distance of just 1 kilometre (less than half a mile) in Muna island, about 200 km (124 miles) south of Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province. The journey, between two small towns on either side of Mawasangka Bay, was meant to be just 20 minutes long.  (REUTERS)