19 bodies recovered after Indonesian boat capsizes

JAKARTA - Rescuers have discovered 19 bodies of passengers aboard a boat that capsized in Mahakam river in East Kalimantan province on Wednesday with 21 survivors and 4 missing, an Indonesian official said on Saturday.  

"After reexamining the data and verification with the firm where all the victims were working at and families of those victims, we agreed that the passengers on board totaled 44," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesperson of Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) told Xinhua by phone.

Sutopo said that due to lack of passenger manifest on the boat, rescuers previously assumed the number of passengers at 50 to 68.

He said that the authorities ordered the rescue operation to last for one week from Wednesday.