Indonesian rescuers have temporarily halted a search for 30 people still missing after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near the island of Bali with the loss of six lives.

The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank about half an hour after leaving East Java province’s Banyuwangi port on its way to Bali late on Wednesday, the agency said.

The rescuers called off the search on Thursday night (local time) due to a “visibility problem”, Nanang Sigit, the head of East Java rescue agency told Reuters, adding that 29 people had been rescued so far.

He said the operation would resume on Friday, with more than 160 rescuers including police and military personnel deployed to conduct the search backed by four vessels and several helicopters.

The boat was carrying 53 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as 22 vehicles, the national agency said.

The ship was rated to carry 67 people and 25 vehicles, according to Indonesia’s transport ministry.

The search for the missing since Thursday had been hampered by strong currents and winds, the national rescue agency said.

Video provided by national rescue agency Basarnas showed what appeared to be the body of one person being carried to shore from a fishing boat in calm seas.

The passengers were all Indonesian, the transport ministry said.

One of the survivors, Eko Toniansyah, 25, who lost his father, told Reuters the ferry suddenly began sinking and tilting, causing panic among all the passengers, who scrambled for life vests.

Another survivor, Bejo Santoso, 52, said strong waves had caused the ferry to sway about half an hour after leaving port.

Dozens of people prepared to jump as the ferry began to sink, Santoso said.

Ferries are a regular mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are common as lax safety standards often allow vessels to be overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment.

A small ferry capsized in 2023 near Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 15 people.

-AAP