Boat with 120 people sinks in west Indonesia

JAKARTA, June 22 (Reuters) A ferry with 120 people on board has sunk off Sumatra island in western Indonesia due to bad weather, a senior rescue official said today, but there was no information on the status of the passengers.

Dianta Bangun, head of the search and rescue office in North Sumatra province, told Reuters rescuers were still trying to locate the boat which he said had 108 passengers and 12 crewmen.

A navy official told a Jakarta-based radio two Americans were on board the vessel.

''The information is it has sunk between Sumatra and Nias islands. The cause was a storm,'' said Bangun.

The navy is leading the search operation.

Ferries are a popular means of transport between the 17,000 islands of Indonesia, where sea connections are cheaper and more available than air routes. But safety standards are not strictly enforced and many ferries are overcrowded.

REUTERS MQA RK1405