RI navy plane spots victims

RI navy plane spots victims

JAKARTA (Reuters): The Indonesian navy has discovered 19
bodies believed to be those of passengers on a ship which sank in
the South China Sea last weekend, the Antara news agency said on
Saturday.

The bodies were spotted by a navy plane on Friday about 60
nautical miles from Pontianak, the provincial capital of West
Kalimantan on the Indonesian side of Borneo island.

Port officials say around 325 people were aboard the KLM Arta
Rimba, which sank last Saturday about 70 nautical miles northwest
of Pontianak on the way from Kuala Sambas on the west coast of
Kalimantan to Riau province in Sumatra.

Twenty people, including the captain, were rescued. The ship
was licensed to carry timber, not passengers.

Many of the passengers had been tempted on board by offers of
cheap passage to Riau where they were told they could find jobs.

About 340 people died in February 1996 when a ferry sank in
heavy seas off the coast of northern Sumatra.