REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has said that the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) will investigate the authenticity of the passenger manifest of the Zahro Express. The passenger ship Zahro Express caught fire off the waters of Seribu Islands, killing 23 passengers.

According to Budi, currently, the only available estimate of the passengers on board the ship was on the basis of news reports, therefore he called on all parties to await the result of the official investigation conducted by KNKT. "KNKT will find the exact number (of passengers) both from the manifest and those who were on board the ship," Budi said here on Monday.

Previously, the Acting Head of the Jakarta Search and Rescue (SAR) Hendra Sudirman had stated that the search for survivors of the burning ship Zahro Express en route to Tidung Island, one of the Seribu Islands, was continuing because the exact number of passengers on board at the time of the mishap was unknown.

The search is being conducted by a joint team of the police, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), and the Indonesian Red Cross, in the dock of Muara Angke Port and the waters in which the shipwreck occurred.

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