Police arrested captain of ill-fated ferry

JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested Andi Kurniawan, the captain of the ill-fated ferry, which was burned in the waters of Thousand Islands regency, Jakarta, killing at least 16 people Thursday.

Police had not named him as a suspect of the accident. Andi's arrest was only to help the smooth process of investigation, MetroTV television reported Friday evening.

The number of passengers was still confused as three different institutions issued different figures -- 400, according to the Indonesian Red Cross, 316 according to Tanjung Priok seaportauthority, and 307 according to ship management.

Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said search and rescue teams managed to evacuate 316 people alive.

Meanwhile, Indonesian naval ships scoured the Java Sea for survivors on Friday as more than a dozen people were believed still missing from the second major maritime disaster in two months.

Five ships and two helicopters were searching the seas where the Levina I caught fire Thursday soon after leaving Jakarta on a trip to a northwestern island, he said.

MetroTV reported that the police were now investigating the source of the fire, which according to eyewitness, came from a truck on the cargo deck of the ill-fated ship.

Survivors recounted their experiences on board the blazing ship. A cargo hand said a woman handed him her 18-month-old baby and then jumped overboard.

"I tried to scale a rope, but was knocked into the water by a falling passenger, still clutching the baby," said Heru, 29. "I swam to a water cooler and then spotted the mother clinging to another cooler nearby.

"The baby was crying 'Mama! Mama!' and she insisted I hand over the child," he was quoted by AP news agency as saying, adding that 15 minutes later, large waves pulled them both under. "Now they're gone."

In the vast nation of 17,000 islands, ferries are the cheapest and most popular form of public transportation. But safety standards are poor, leading to hundreds of deaths each year.Indonesia has been hit by a string of transportation disasters in recent months.

In late December, another passenger ferry sank in a storm in the Java Sea, killing more than 400 people.