26 people were missing on Saturday after an Indonesian ferry sank in the Makassar Strait, which separates the islands of Sulawesi and Borneo, authorities said on Saturday.
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The shipwreck took place in bad weather on Thursday, but the news was not known to the authorities until Saturday, the head of the rescue services, Djuanidi (who like many Indonesians, only wears a only name).
Numerous accidents at sea
The ferry was carrying 43 people and ran out of fuel.
Battered by bad weather, it ended up sinking.
17 people were rescued, and the search continued on Saturday for the missing, he said.
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Accidents at sea are numerous in Indonesia, an archipelago made up of 17,000 islands, and where safety instructions are not always respected.
Last week, a ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in East Nusa Tenggara province and was stranded for two days.
No one was hurt.
In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in Sumatra, on one of the deepest lakes in the world.