Two Chinese nationals died after a tourist boat capsized off the coast of Bali in Indonesia.
The Bali Dolphin Cruise was sailing from Nusa Penida to Sanur in Bali's east on Tuesday when it was struck by a large wave, authorities said.
The impact caused the boat to sink and run aground, the popular tourist island's search and rescue agency said.
“Several boats were entering safely around that time, but this one appears to have failed to anticipate a large incoming wave,” Aprianus Hangki, head of the Benoa Class II Port Authority, told reporters.
Authorities confirmed that two Chinese nationals were killed while a 23-year-old Indonesian citizen was missing.
The boat was reportedly carrying 73 foreigners, two Indonesian passengers, and five crew members.
The Indonesian transport ministry said that the navy was helping local authorities conduct a search and rescue operation.
“On behalf of the government, we express our deepest condolences," transport minister Dudy Purwagandhi said. “We will respond to this incident promptly and conduct a full evaluation.”
Boats and ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are not rare due to bad weather as well as lax safety standards that often allow vessels to be overloaded.
In July, at least 10 people went missing after a boat capsized during bad weather off the Mentawai Islands in the West Sumatra province. The other eight people on board were rescued after the vessel sank at around 11am local time, the national search and rescue agency said.
The doomed vessel had left Sikakap, a small town in the Mentawai Islands, for the town of Tuapejat.
Another ferry sank last month near Bali. Of the 65 people on board, 18 died and 17 went missing. A search for the missing, which lasted two weeks and involved 500 people, including rescuers, police and military personnel, was officially called off on Monday.
