DHAKA: Fifteen foreign tourists were missing on Sunday after a boat travelling between islands in eastern Indonesia sank.

An Indonesian search-and-rescue official said, reports The Straits Times.

Suryaman, based on the island of Lombok, told media that 10 people had been rescued after the ship sank on its way from that island to Komodo Islands.

He said he did not know the fate of the other 15 people on the vessel, which had a crew of five Indonesians and was carrying 20 foreigners.

The vessel left Lombok on Thursday night and sank on Saturday about 7:00pm local time ‘and we only received a report at 8:00am (on Sunday)’, said Suryaman, adding that poor communication caused a delay in deploying a search-and-rescue team.

BDST: 1640 HRS, AUG 17, 2014