印尼渡輪事故死亡人數升至31人
Indonesia disaster officials now say 31 people have been confirmed dead after a ferry ran aground off the island of Sulawesi.
The ferry was carrying about 140 people Tuesday afternoon when it was hit by rough weather and began taking on water. The captain steered the vessel onto a reef about 300 meters from shore in an effort to save lives. Television footage showed passengers desperately hanging on to the ferry as it listed in the waters, or floating in the rough seas wearing life jackets.
Nearly 70 passengers have been rescued from the wreckage, while another 41 passengers remain missing.
Tuesday's accident occurred on the same day that authorities called off the search for more than 160 passengers believed to be trapped inside the wreckage of a ferry that sunk last month in a popular lake on Sumatra island.
Ferry sinkings are a common tragedy in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands in the Indian Ocean, due to weak enforcement of safety regulations.印度尼西亞負責救災事務的官員說，一艘渡輪在蘇拉威西島附近擱淺，31人喪生。
載有大約140人的輪渡星期二下午遇到惡劣天氣，船內開始進水。船長爲了保護生命，將渡輪開到離海岸大約300米的珊瑚礁上。電視畫面顯示一些乘客拼命抓住在水中傾斜的輪渡，還有一些人穿着救生衣在波濤洶涌的海面上漂浮。
將近70名乘客獲救，目前仍有41人失蹤。
星期二輪渡事故發生當天，當局停止了對另一艘渡輪遇難乘客的搜索。一艘輪渡上個月在蘇門答臘島上的一個湖上下沉，據信160多名乘客仍在船內。
印尼安全監管薄弱，經常發生渡輪沉沒事故。這個印度洋國家由1萬7千個島嶼組成。
