At least 16 killed in Kendari overloaded ship explosion

Agencies, Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi

Rescuers continued the search for survivors of the ill-fated Kenanga ship which caught fire and exploded minutes later in Southeast Sulawesi waters late Friday, killing at least 16 people.

Antara reported on Saturday that 16 people, three of them were children, were killed in the tragedy and 85 people were rescued. The news agency said that 200 people were onboard the ship although the official manifest showed that there were only 40 people. The ship was loaded with gasoline and diesel fuel.

The passengers were mostly migrant workers returning from Malaysia who had just arrived in Batu port from Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, on the MV Bukit Siguntang.

The workers were heading to Talaga, a district where many of the locals work overseas.

Meanwhile, Associated Press quoted the chief of the Kendari Search and Rescue operation Rocky Asikin as saying that at least 20 people were confirmed dead and that search operation was still going on.

"We are in the middle of an intensive search," he told the news agency, declining to speculate on the chances of finding any more survivors alive.

Some of the 20 victims were children, he said.

The overloaded ship sank after fire swept through it minutes after it departed from Batu seaport in Baubau.

Port administrator Abdulah Arfah confirmed the incident, saying that the search for victims was still going on and as of Saturday morning 85 survivors, including six ship crew members, had been rescued.

Abdulah also said 13 people who survived the mishap were still receiving treatment at a nearby hospital and the surviving ship crew members were being questioned at the local police station.

The ongoing search and rescue operation involves two speedboats and three ships around the site of the explosion, some 2 nautical miles from the port.

After exploding the ship sank and disappeared from sight.

It has yet to be confirmed whether any of the passengers drowned along with the wreckage.