印尼渡轮事故死亡人数升至31人

Indonesia disaster officials now say 31 people have been confirmed dead after a ferry ran aground off the island of Sulawesi.

The ferry was carrying about 140 people Tuesday afternoon when it was hit by rough weather and began taking on water. The captain steered the vessel onto a reef about 300 meters from shore in an effort to save lives. Television footage showed passengers desperately hanging on to the ferry as it listed in the waters, or floating in the rough seas wearing life jackets.

Nearly 70 passengers have been rescued from the wreckage, while another 41 passengers remain missing.

Tuesday's accident occurred on the same day that authorities called off the search for more than 160 passengers believed to be trapped inside the wreckage of a ferry that sunk last month in a popular lake on Sumatra island.

Ferry sinkings are a common tragedy in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands in the Indian Ocean, due to weak enforcement of safety regulations.

印度尼西亚负责救灾事务的官员说，一艘渡轮在苏拉威西岛附近搁浅，31人丧生。

载有大约140人的轮渡星期二下午遇到恶劣天气，船内开始进水。船长为了保护生命，将渡轮开到离海岸大约300米的珊瑚礁上。电视画面显示一些乘客拼命抓住在水中倾斜的轮渡，还有一些人穿着救生衣在波涛汹涌的海面上漂浮。

将近70名乘客获救，目前仍有41人失踪。

星期二轮渡事故发生当天，当局停止了对另一艘渡轮遇难乘客的搜索。一艘轮渡上个月在苏门答腊岛上的一个湖上下沉，据信160多名乘客仍在船内。

印尼安全监管薄弱，经常发生渡轮沉没事故。这个印度洋国家由1万7千个岛屿组成。