The Associated Press

Mon, Jan 12, 2009 (6:57 p.m.)

Rescue teams took to the air and sea at sunrise Tuesday, renewing the search for more than 230 people missing after an Indonesian ferry capsized in a cyclone.

At least 34 people, including the captain, have been rescued and one body recovered. But hopes were fading that anyone else would be found alive two days after the boat sank.

Transport Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said a widespread investigation was under way to determine why the crew apparently ignored warnings not to travel into the Makassar Strait.

The government will compensate families $2,400, or roughly two times an average annual salary in impoverished Indonesia, for each victim of the disaster.

Most survivors were picked up by fishing and cargo ships within hours of the sinking and taken to nearby ports. They recounted a churning sea and relentless waves before the ferry suddenly capsizing in the dark.

Baco, a passenger, was fast asleep in the ship's lower, economy-class deck when sea water rushed in and swept away about 20 children within seconds as he looked on helplessly.

"They were just sucked away," he said, sobbing as he recalled how the boat suddenly capsized before dawn Sunday in a cyclone off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing hundreds aboard.

More than 230 passengers and crew were missing and presumed dead at nightfall Monday, following a day of intense searching amid high waves and strong winds.

Baco, a father of five who was taking the ferry to Borneo to look for a job with an oil company, described the sudden horror of the scene.

"Many people were still sleeping when the water came to the second deck just above the engine room," said Baco, 40, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

"Around 20 little children were taken by the sea. I could do nothing," he said, weeping as he described the screams of the drowning.

Baco clung to a piece of plastic foam and drifted for five hours before joining another man on a life raft. They were later picked up by fishermen.

A military search and rescue operation with four warships, airplanes and helicopters was expanded with eight navy ships Tuesday, said Djamal.

Monday's mission was hampered by strong winds and waves higher than 13 feet (4 meters), in what officials said were dangerous remnants of tropical Cyclone Charlotte.

The 700-ton (635-metric ton) Teratai Prima radioed that it was in trouble just before dawn Sunday. It capsized about 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast of western Sulawesi.

The captain was being investigated for allegedly ignoring warnings from the Indonesian weather agency that conditions on the crossing were too dangerous.

Boats are a major form of transportation in Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago with more than 17,000 islands. Poor enforcement of safety regulations and overcrowding causes accidents that claim hundreds of lives each year.

In December 2006, a crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm, killing more than 400 people.

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Associated Press reporters Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.