Chinese President Hu Jintao sent a message of condolence to his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday after a passenger ferry capsized a day earlier in the waters off Indonesia's Sulawesi island.

President Hu, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, expressed his deep condolences to victims of the disaster and to their families.

The ferry, left Parepare town, South Sulawesi province, on Saturday night heading for Smarinda, East Kalimantan province, when it sank 30 miles (50 kilometers) off western Sulawesi. Some 250 people are missing, feared dead in the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2009)