Indonesia scours rough seas for more boat survivors

JAKARTA, July 12 (Reuters) Heavy seas around Indonesia's Ambon island hampered search efforts today for a missing boat after the bodies of two young children were found along with 31 survivors, rescue officials said.

The Wahai Star -- which may have had about 70 people on board -- set sail from Buru island on Tuesday, but officials said it suffered engine problems and may have run into waves as high as six metres (20 ft) just short of Ambon.

Ambon is part of the Moluccas chain of islands in the east of the country.

''Two children were found dead and 31 people alive, all of them wearing life jackets,'' Abraham Lesnussa, head of the rescue team in Ambon, said by telephone.

He said four of the survivors had managed to reach a nearby island, but had not been evacuated yet.

''The rest of the survivors are being treated at Ambon public hospital.'' One of the dead children, a boy, was still in his mother's arms when found, said Sugiharto, a maritime transport offical.

''I don't know exactly when he died, on board or in the sea,'' the official said, adding that the boy's mother had survived and all the passengers had been wearing life jackets.

Lesnussa said the passenger list indicated 59 people on the boat including crew, but since it had stopped in several ports to pick up people there may have been another 10 or so on board.

The official said rescuers had started finding survivors floating in the sea from around midday yesterday, but bad weather made the search for any remaining survivors difficult.

''The weather today is very bad, foggy and raining. This is hampering our search. We deployed four ships but one of them could not continue searching due to high waves.'' Indonesia has about 17,000 islands, and ferries and boats are a popular means of transport.

Sea connections are cheaper and more readily available than aircraft, but safety standards are not always strictly enforced and accidents occur fairly often.

The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come under pressure to improve the country's poor transport safety record.

There have been two other major ferry disasters since late last year, killing hundreds of people.

Indonesia is also grappling with problems in other modes of transportation. There have been two major air disasters so far this year, and rail accidents on an ageing system built during the Dutch colonial era occur frequently.

Reuters AE DB1047