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500 missing after Indonesian ferry disaster

More than 500 people are still missing, and feared drowned, after an Indonesian ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java.

Search and rescue efforts are being hampered by rough seas.

Officials said they lost contact with the vessel around midnight on Friday, 5pm Irish time, when it was off the Java coast.

At least 59 people had been rescued and a life raft had been found with an unknown number of people in it, according to port officials in Semarang.

21 survivors found in a life raft were brought into Rembang port on the coast, 100km northeast of Semarang.

Heavy seas with waves five to six metres high are hampering search and rescue efforts with only larger navy ships able to go out, as two other ships were forced to turn back.

The ferry left Kumai in Central Kalimantan province on Borneo island en route to Semarang in Central Java 420km away, and sank near Mandalika island off the Java coast.