JAKARTA—At least 15 passengers were killed when a small ferry capsized during a short 20-minute journey near Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, the national search and rescue agency said on Monday.
The other 33 passengers on board were rescued after the accident on Sunday night, the agency said in a statement, adding two of the victims were in hospital.
Photos shared by the rescue agency showed bodies covered in cloth on the floor of the hospital.
The cause of the sinking, which occurred at about midnight, was still unclear.
The vessel was ferrying people across a distance of just 1 kilometer (just over half a mile) in Muna island, about 200 km (124 miles) south of Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi Province. The journey, between two small towns on either side of Mawasangka Bay, was meant to be just 20 minutes long….