Indonesian rescuers have received reports of 81 missing persons two days after a ferry sank off East Nusa Tenggara province amid conflicting reports about the number of passengers, reports said Thursday.

 

The manifest listed less than 100 passengers and crew of the ferry that sank in the narrow strait between the provincial capital of Kupang and nearby Rote island, some 2,000 km east of Jakarta, Tuesday evening.

 

But two navy warships have evacuated more than 100 survivors from the sunken ferry.

 

Reports said the number of people onboard was 160.

 

"The figure could be either higher or lower because illegal passengers might have been aboard the ferry," local seaport head Bambang Julianto was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

 

Separately in Jakarta, Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasaruled out the possibility that the ferry was overloaded when the accident happened.

 

"The ferry can carry up to 400 people and a number of vehicles," he told reporters.

 

The minister said 120 survivors and two dead bodies have been evacuated from the scene.

 

The ferry sank after being smashed by tidal waves of up to seven meters high, Hatta said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2006)