Religious refugees perish as ship sinks
Hundreds are feared dead after a cargo ship overloaded with refugees fleeing religious persecution in Indonesia sank on Friday. Around 500 people were on board. Most came from the village of Duma which was attacked by Muslim militants on 19 June. One hundred and fourteen people died in that massacre. The ship, which only had a capacity for 270 passengers, left the Port of Tobelo and was heading for Manado when it hit bad weather and went down off Halmahere, the main island in the Moluccas. Indonesian rescue vessels are scouring the area and report that they have picked up a few survivors. They have not found any trace of the ship at the co-ordinates given during last SOS radio message from the captain. This was cut off suddenly.