The Indonesian rescue team Wednesday found 27 passengers of a ferry that sank off Java Island on Friday while the fate of some 400 others remains unknown, local media reports said.

 

Fifteen survivors, aged between 14 and 50 years old, saved themselves with lifebuoys before being found off Madura island east of Java at 07:00 a.m. (0000 GMT), the national Antara news agency reported, quoting a local legislative member as saying.

 

They were treated at a clinic in Madura, about 750 km east of Jakarta, and their conditions reportedly become stable.

 

On another occasion, 12 passengers were found alive in an offshore oil rig, reported major national newspaper The Jakarta Post's website.

 

The 14-year-old Senopati Madura ferry sank after being slammed by giant waves just before it arrived to the Central Java seaport in a two-day trip from Kalimantan island.

 

According to the manifest, the ferry carried 628 people, including passengers and ship crews.

 

About 200 passengers have been found alive. The rescue team has also recovered 12 corpses and found scores more floating on the water.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2007)