AN Indonesian ferry disaster has claimed 29 lives, including two children, with fears the death toll could continue to rise.

Forty-one people are still missing after the KM Lestari Maju ran aground on Monday about 300 metres off the coast of Indonesia, officials said.

Rescuers raced to save scores of other passengers clinging aboard the stranded aboard the vessel, which was carrying nearly 140 people, as well as motor vehicles.

Indonesia’s Director-General of Sea Transportation Agus Purnomo said in a statement that people trapped on the ferry overnight were rescued early Wednesday.

He didn’t specify how many, but said the captain and the boat owner were the last two people to leave the vessel.

Earlier, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said 69 people had been rescued.

Some passengers jumped into the water when the ship began to tip to the side, with video footage showing passengers floating in the sea awaiting help.

A total of 139 people and 48 vehicles were listed in the ship’s manifest.

A fleet of smaller boats, including local fishing vessels, were working to save passengers as bad weather prevented larger craft from approaching the stricken ferry, the Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry said.

It added that passengers had been wearing life jackets.

The 48-metre vessel was sailing from Sulawesi to nearby Selayar island when it ran into strong winds and high waves.

Deadly maritime accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, where many people depend on boats to get around the 17,000 island archipelago nation.

The tragic incident comes on the same day authorities officially called off the search for more than 160 people missing after another ferry sank on a volcanic lake in Sumatra two weeks ago.

Distraught relatives slammed Indonesia’s government for not enforcing basic safety measures on passenger boats after the tragic event.

The boat was five times over its passenger capacity of 43 and equipped with only 45 life jackets, Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and National Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi told a news conference at the time.

More than 300 people are estimated to have drowned in 2009 when a ferry sank between Sulawesi and Borneo islands.