At least 4 dead, dozens missing after ferry sinks near Indonesia's Bali

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - At least four people are dead and 38 missing after a ferry sank on its way to Indonesia’s Bali island, a rescue agency said Thursday.

Twenty-three people have been rescued after the vessel, carrying 65 people, sank before midnight on Wednesday in the Bali Strait, the search and rescue agency in Surabaya said.

The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya was traveling from East Java’s Ketapang port in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java to Gilimanuk seaport in Jembrana Regency on Bali island when it sank.

Authorities launched search and rescue operations but they are hampered by strong winds, large waves and powerful currents.

President Prabowo Subianto, who was on a trip to Saudi Arabia, ordered an immediate emergency response, Cabinet secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement Thursday.

He said the cause of the accident was "bad weather.”