17 dead in wedding boat tragedy

At least 17 people from a wedding party have died after their boat sank on its way to the Indonesian island of Bali with two dozen still missing.

The victims include at least three children, one of them a two-year-old boy, while nine other children are believed missing.

Officials called off the search for the day at sunset, with eight of the 49 people on board rescued, while the remaining 24 were still unaccounted for.

"The search was called off in the evening because the waves were very big and it was getting dark," said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, adding the search would resume.

The wooden motor boat broke down earlier this week after leaving the east coast of Indonesia's main Java island.

"The engine was damaged and the water pump broke, so the boat filled with water and sank," Nugroho said.

Officials told AFP that the captain had managed to briefly call authorities after the boat broke down but then lost contact.

The passengers heading to the resort island are all believed to be Indonesian.

The eight survivors, all adults, were spotted by fisherman floating and holding hands around three kilometres from a Pulau Raas, a small island off the eastern Java coast.

"The fishermen took them back to the island after their rescue," Sutopo told AFP.

The search team used a helicopter and several boats to scour the sea.

Nugroho did not say whether the bride and groom were on the boat to Bali, but said some of their family members were on board.

Indonesia relies heavily on boats to connect its more than 17,000 islands, but has a poor maritime safety record.

Boats are often overcrowded and not equipped with enough life jackets and rescue boats.

In August, a tour boat carrying 25 people sank after leaving the island of Lombok near Bali heading toward Komodo Island, a popular tourist destination.

The passengers were mostly European tourists, and two Spanish men were never found after the boat hit a reef and sank in stormy weather, with no working radio or satellite phone to alert rescue officials.

In July, at least two vessels sank in different parts of the archipelago as millions travelled for the Muslim Eid holiday, leaving at least 36 people dead.

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