88 bodies retrieved after Indonesia boat disaster

December 22nd, 2011 - 9:41 pm ICT by IANS  

Jakarta, Dec 22 (IANS) Eighty-eight bodies were retrieved by Thursday from a wooden vessel that sank six days ago with some 250 people on board off the Indonesian island of Java, officials said.

The boat, carrying illegal migrants, mostly from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Turkey, was heading to the Christmas island in Australia, the rescue office said.

It sank near the Prigi beach Saturday. The victims included women and children. About 40 people survived.

“By today (Thursday) we have found 88 bodies, they were floating. Many of them could not be recognized,” Sutrisno, head of the East Java Search and Rescue Office, told Xinhua.

The search operation was expanded up to the waters off the Bali province, Sutrisno said, adding it will continue till all the victims are found.

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