12 more survivors from Indonesian ferry sinking found

Twelve men from the ferry that sank four days ago in Indonesia's Java Sea were found alive Wednesday on an unmanned offshore oil rig, navy officers said.

The survivors were weak but otherwise well, said Navy spokesman Lt.-Col. Tony Syaiful, who monitored the rescue operation just after midnight from land via radio. Navy Col. Jan Simamora, the head of the search for survivors, confirmed the rescue.

Authorities say 628 people were on the ferry when it sank late Friday during a violent storm en route from Indonesia's section of Borneo to the main island of Java.

At least 212 people have been found alive so far, most of them plucked from life rafts or clinging to debris, but some 400 remain missing in still-heavy seas, Simamora told the Associated Press.

"We are trying our utmost to find more," Simamora said. "We still hope that those in lifeboats are still alive."

People who have something to keep them afloat can survive for days in Indonesia's warm tropical waters.

At least two survivors said that many of the victims were trapped in the ship when it sank. Simamora said only 12 bodies have been recovered, though others have been spotted.

The 12 men rescued on Wednesday had drifted around 200 kilometres from where the ferry sank before coming across the rig, said Syaiful.

On Tuesday, rescuers pulled more than two dozen survivors out of the sea.

One survivor was picked up by a fisherman after drifting on a life raft for four days.

"Six among us died, one by one," said Susilo, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.

He said some of the people who died drank sea water.

Relatives of the missing have converged on hospitals and ports along Java's coast, hoping their loved ones will turn up alive.

The Senopati Nusantara was built in Japan in 1992 and had a capacity of 850 people.

Officials say bad weather was the cause of the accident.