Indonesia raises number of ferry sinking missing to 166

An Indonesia search and rescue team searches for a ferry which sank Monday in lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Rescuers searching for dozens of people missing after a ferry sank on Indonesia’s Lake Toba have found bags, jackets, an ID card and other items in the waters but no new survivors, casting a tragic pall over holidays marking the end of the Muslim holy month. (AP Photo)

TIGARAS PORT, Indonesia — Indonesian officials say 166 people are missing from a ferry sinking Monday evening at a popular lake on Sumatra, a much higher number than previously believed.

The boat didn’t have a passenger manifest and disaster officials have several times raised the number of people it was carrying as distraught relatives who rushed to Lake Toba in northern Sumatra provided information. On Tuesday, officials said 94 people were missing and expected the number to rise.

Only 18 people were rescued and one death confirmed in the immediate response to the tragedy on Monday evening.

An Associated Press reporter on Wednesday morning saw rescuers transferring a body to an ambulance onshore.

Grief-stricken relatives urged officials to speed up the search effort.   /muf