Thirty-four people might have been dead as an overloaded cargo vessel sank on a river off Borneo Island, rescuers said on Monday.

Rusli Ansyah, head of the rescue team in Banjarmasin town where the boat departed, said that 21 bodies have been found and search is still under way for the missing 13 others in the tragedy that occurred three days ago. "The missing persons could be dead as they have gone under water for 3 days," he told Xinhua from the scene of the accident.

The boat, Sari Mulia, sank late Friday after hitting strong currents on the Bataras, 100 km from Banjarmasin town, in southern Kalimantan province.

Ansyah said that 116 people have survived.

Boats are favourable and chief transport mean in Indonesia, home of over 230 million people. But lack of safety standard has been frequently blamed for the accident in waters in the archipelago country with 17,500 islands.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2009)