Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
Search and rescue teams are still trying to find 72 passengers still missing from a ferry that sank in waters off Kupang on Tuesday, an official says.
Most of the passengers on the Citra Mandala Bahari ferry are presumed to have drowned.
East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration official Frans Salem said rescue teams had as of Saturday found 34 bodies, not 55 bodies as previously reported.
""I have to clarify that the number of the dead victims discovered as of Friday was not 55 as was reported at the media, but only 34. There was a mistake in the data collection by the evacuation staff,"" Salem said.
Rescue teams had found 125 other passengers floating in the sea in the days after the accident, he said. Most of the passengers had life jackets.
Salem said the missing persons were believed to have been swept away by high seas or still be trapped in the sunken ship.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by confusion over the exact number of the passengers the ferry carried, with only 82 passengers listed on the boat's manifest along with 23 crew members.
""The number of the 72 missing victims, including six crew members, was compiled from reports from their relatives,"" Salem said.
It is not clear yet whether the boat was overloaded.
In line with procedure, the search and rescue team would continue searching for the missing people until Tuesday -- a week after the boat sank.
Searchers had already combed Rote Strait, around the Kambing and Semau islands and in the Gulf of Kupang, he said.
Thirty one of the dead were found on Friday and another three on Saturday.
Evacuation team coordinator Col. FX. Agus Susilo said the bodies were found floating near Kambing Island.
Fourteen of the evacuated victims were being treated at the WZ Yohannes Hospital, three at the Wirasakti Army Hospital and 20 at Bhayangkara Police Hospital -- all in Kupang.
Three of the 34 evacuated bodies had not been identified because of their poor condition, Salem said.
The government has deployed three naval war ships, a CASA survellience aircraft, a police helicopter, a police patrol boat, three tugboats owned by state shipping company PT Pelni and three vessels from state ferry company PT ASDP to aid rescue efforts, he said.
The ferry capsized after 8pm on Tuesday night after waves shifted its cargo in high seas, causing the ship to list dangerously.
Most of the rescued passengers were wearing life jackets or had managed to cling to cargo from the boat.
