An official says eight people have died after the Norwegian operated tanker Cathinka collided with an Indonesian ferry. The ferry Bahuga Jaya, which links Java and southern Sumatra island, sank in the Sunda Strait, west of the main island of Java.
Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan says 208 crew and passengers have been evacuated after Wednesday’s accident. Evran initially said the second vessel was an oil tanker.
It’s still unclear how many passengers were aboard the ferry, which had about 30 crew members. Officials were waiting for the manifest.
According to the Associated Press the ferry went down after colliding with the South African-flagged Norr Gastar about six kilometers (four miles) off Bakahuni port in Sumatra.
But Bloomberg identified the ship as the Singapore-flagged Norgas Cathinka, a liquefied petroleum gas and chemical carrier operated by the Norwegian shipping company I.M. Skaugen SE.
The Norgas Cathinka “sustained structural damage to its hull but there has been no ingress of water and there is no danger of the vessel sinking,” the company said in a statement posted to its website.
