Over 800 dead from ship that sinks off Java coast

December 30th, 2006

Jakarta, Indonesia - An overloaded passenger ship, with over 800 people on board, sank in a storm off Central Java.

A naval official told local radio the ship, "Senopati," was travelling from Semarang in Central Java to the port of Kumai in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

The ship went down around midnight Friday in a fierce storm.

Boats in the area went to the scene to help with the rescue and found just 66 survivors adrift in lifeboats.

"It was impossible to see anything in the dark and with the rain and 12-foot high waves, they didn't have a chance," said Kim Noromasama, tha captain of a freighter that arrived on the scene two hours after the sinking and couldn't find anyone alive.