There were about 198 passengers and crew on top of about 290 refugees on the ferry headed from Halmahera to Sulawesi. Most of those on the ferry were Christians. Those passengers boarding the ship are from Duma, Galela. An official from a Muslim command post in northern Halmahera said there were no Muslims aboard. A sprawling archipelago of thousands of islands, Indonesia is linked by a network of ferries, many of which are poorly maintained and regularly carry far more than their legal load.
Disasters are common.
Halmahera lies in the north of the Maluku islands, where thousands of people have been slaughtered in a religious war. In the latest outbreak of violence, at least 170 people were killed in two weeks of fighting on Halmahera and the main island of Ambon. Indonesia declared a civil emergency in the Malukus on Monday. Sniper fire and bomb blasts yesterday continued to shake Ambon, the capital city, but fighting between Muslims and Christians abated as the state of emergency took hold. Frightened residents took shelter in abandoned homes and makeshift camps while hundreds of soldiers patrolled battle-scarred streets.