By Ainur Rohmah

JAKARTA

At least 39 people have been rescued and three confirmed dead after a passenger boat carrying more than 115 people sank after encountering large waves in waters off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.

J.A. Barata, transportation ministry spokesperson, said in a statement cited by national news agency Antara that 42 of the people on board the KM Marina – “three of whom are dead" -- had been found as of Sunday afternoon.

Israel, a rescuer who like many Indonesians uses only one name, had earlier told Kompas.com that the bodies of two children had been recovered.

The motor boat had been carrying 116 passengers people, according to its manifest, when it was hit by large waves Saturday afternoon and its crew reported to port authorities that the vessel had begun taking in water.

More than a dozen of those reportedly on board were children.

The KM Marina departed from a port in Kolaka regency, Southeast Sulawesi province, en route to the city of Wajo to the west at around 11.00 a.m. (0400GMT) Saturday.

Police Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera, spokesperson for South and West Sulawesi Police, said Saturday that survivors were being transported to the nearest hospital.

Antara quoted him as saying, “rescue teams are still around the coordinates of the location of the last communication with the harbor master."

Meanwhile, the director of waterways for South and West Sulawesi Regional Police told the agency that bad weather and waves more than five meters high were hampering the search for passengers and the boat.

Police Commissioner Hari Sanyoto said the boat had not been found although rescue teams “have searched since morning and around the location it went missing."

Indonesia's waterways serve as a widespread form of transportation in some areas of the country, where accidents resulting from overcrowded boats and lax safety standards are common.