Suherdjoko and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Rembang
Search and rescue efforts continued Tuesday to locate survivors of Friday's sinking of a ferry carrying more than 600 passengers off the Java coast, as officials warned of more extreme weather.
The head of the Semarang office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Mochammad Chairon, said more extreme weather was expected in the Java Sea.
""Strong winds, heavy rain and high waves will continue likely through the end of January,"" he said.
Authorities have recovered at least 200 survivors from the Senopati Nusantara ferry, which left Kumai in Central Kalimantan Thursday night bound for Semarang in Central Java. The bodies of at least 11 passengers also have been recovered.
""The search and rescue efforts are focused on saving the living first. The search will concentrate on areas in East Java province until seven days after the time of the accident,"" Central Java rescue coordinator Eko Prayitno told Reuters.
He said high waves and strong sea currents were pushing the bodies of the dead and the living eastward in the direction of Surabaya, East Java.
Some survivors are still on life rafts in the open water, with food being air-dropped to them as rough seas and bad weather prevent rescue craft from reaching them.
""Because of the bad weather, SAR (search and rescue) is using a fixed-wing plane for searching and a helicopter for dropping food,"" Eko said.
Central Java Governor Mardiyanto said rescue operations would continue although poor weather has hampered the efforts.
He also said his administration would cover the medical expenses of all the survivors, as well as paying to transport them to their hometowns.
""The provincial administration will assist in sending them back home. This is part of our responsibility, as well as the ship's owner PT Prima Vista,"" Mardiyanto said.
One survivor, a 32-year-old man with badly injured legs who gave his name as Fadlan, recounted Tuesday his escape from the sinking vessel.
""I broke a window on the deck and jumped out. It was raining hard and the waves were high. For two days I floated clinging on to foam (from life buoys) before a fishing boat found me and transported me to a Navy ship,"" he told Reuters shortly after arriving at the Central Java Port of Rembang.
According to the manifest, the Senopati Nusantara ferry was carrying 628 people, including 57 crew.
Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa has said the 1990 Japanese-built, 2,178-tonne ship was seaworthy and had a capacity to carry 850 people.
This was the second ferry accident in the last week of 2006 after a vessel overturned Thursday in rough seas off Sumatra. Two people on that ferry died and 26 were still missing as of late Sunday, a rescue official said.
Ships and ferries are a popular means of transportation among the country's 17,000 islands. However, safety standards are not always enforced and accidents occur fairly often.
-- Indra Harsaputra contributed to the story from Surabaya, East Java.
