<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">At least 15 people were killed and 19 more were missing on Monday after a ferry sank off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi island, search and rescue officials said.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The boat sank with 40 people onboard just after midnight local time (1700 GMT on Sunday), the local office of Indonesia's search and rescue agency said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Six people were rescued and taken to hospital for treatment, and the cause of the sinking was being investigated, it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Provisionally, there are 19 people who are still being searched for," Muhamad Arafah, head of the local search and rescue agency in Kendari city in Southeast Sulawesi, said in the statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One search team will dive around the accident site, while another will search the water's surface using boats, he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ferry was crossing from Lanto village on Buton island to Lagili village on Muna island in Southeast Sulawesi, the agency said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It shared images of rescuers mobilising for the search effort, and several dead bodies covered by sarongs laid on tarpaulin at a local hospital.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is common in Indonesia for the number of actual passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Marine accidents occur frequently in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation of around 17,000 islands, where people rely on ferries and small boats to travel around despite poor safety standards.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world's deepest lakes on Sumatra island.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In May last year, a ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in shallow waters off East Nusa Tenggara province and remained stuck for two days before being dislodged.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No one was hurt in that accident. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>