Two dead, 17 missing in Indonesia boat accident

Two people died and 17 are missing after a boat sank on a river in Indonesia's Borneo island, an official said Saturday, with state media saying the tolls could be much higher.

The cargo vessel Sari Mulia went down after encountering strong currents 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the city of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province late Friday.

"There were two people killed in the accident. We're still searching for 17 people from the vessel," Health Ministry crisis centre head Rustam Pakaya told AFP, adding 104 people had so far been rescued."We're still looking for the rest. Extra help from Banjarmasin's rescue team has already arrived at the scene."

Indonesia's Antara state news agency said the number of dead and missing could be far higher than the official figure as many of those who boarded the boat could have done so without a ticket and would not appear on the manifest.

Indonesia's 234 million people are spread across 17,000 islands and heavily dependent on a network of ships and boats, which have a poor safety record.Up to 335 people were killed when a ferry sank off Sulawesi island in January.

In December 2006 a ferry went down in a storm off the coast of Java, killing more than 500 people.

-AFP