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Last Updated: Monday January 12 2009 15:23 GMT

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Hunt for Indonesia boat survivors

An Indonesian Navy boat comes into port after searching for survivors

A huge rescue mission is under way off the coast of Indonesia after a ferry carrying 250 people sank in a storm.

The Teratai Prima ferry was travelling overnight from Pare Pare, in South Sulawesi, to Samarinda, in East Kalimantan, when it sank on Sunday.

At least 22 survivors have been rescued so far, but loads of people are still missing and the bad weather is making it really tough for search teams.

Now officials say hopes of finding any other survivors is fading fast.

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A map showing where the ferry was travelling from and to
Transport Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said: "It seems that due to the weather conditions the chance is little, but we still hope."

Ferries are used a lot in Indonesia to connect the main islands, but in recent years there have been a lot of accidents.

One of the worst happened in December 2006, when a ferry carrying more than 600 people sank during a journey from Borneo to Java. Most of its passengers were never found.