A total of 122 survivors of the ill-fated ship, which sank in the vicinity of Mandalika island in the Java Sea on Saturday were rescued up to Sunday morning, a radio report said on Sunday.

Fishermen found 18 other survivors on Sunday morning, adding the total number of survivors to 122, but hundreds of others were still missing, El-Shinta radio station reported.

The ill-fated ship under the command of captain Wiratno carried 542 passengers, 57 crew members, and 29 drivers of trucks and buses on board when the accident occurred.

The Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) was reported to have deployed three warships, one light aircraft CN-235, one Fokker-27 and one C-130 Hercules to help evacuate victims of the shipwreck.

Bad weather and high waves were reported to be hampering the search and rescue efforts being made at the location by a team comprising of servicemen, marine police and members of the national SAR (Search and Rescue) agency.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said Saturday night that the sinking ship was made in 1990 and still sea worthy and not very old.

The minister said the vessel of 2,178 gross dead weight tons had a capacity to carry 800 passengers and was equipped with sufficient safety gear.

The ship was sailing from Central Kalimantan to Semarang, Central Java, when it met the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2006)