JAKARTA, Indonesia: Five survivors, including a seven-year-old girl, were rescued after spending three days at sea following a passenger boat sinking near Selayar Island in eastern Indonesia.
Local fishermen found the group on Saturday afternoon and alerted search-and-rescue authorities, official Muhammad Arif Anwar said. The boat sank on Wednesday while sailing south of Sulawesi with 78 people aboard.
The survivors said they had initially remained with a larger group of missing passengers before heavy winds separated them.
Anwar said they survived by tying together plastic jerry cans and pieces of cork with rope to create makeshift flotation devices. They climbed onto the structure and remained afloat until fishermen reached them.
The group appeared weak and exhausted after spending several days with limited food and water. They sustained themselves with packets of instant noodles and biscuits, according to the rescue official.
Search teams deployed five large vessels, a reconnaissance aircraft and a helicopter to locate other missing passengers.
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The vessel’s manifest listed only 50 people, but further checks found that 78 passengers had been aboard. Indonesian authorities have repeatedly linked discrepancies in passenger records and weak safety enforcement to maritime accidents.
