Boats collide in Indonesian waters, 18 missing

Indonesian police say a wooden motorised boat carrying 21 people from the province of Papua to Papua New Guinea sunk early this morning north of Jayapura.

One person is dead, and two survivors have reached the coast, while 18 people are still missing.

A spokesman for Indonesia's Papua province police, Commissioner Kartono, said that the boat sank when it collided with a speedboat about one kilometre north of the Papuan capital Jayapura.

Media in Indonesia are quoting local police as saying that OPM (Free Papua Movement) documentation has also been found floating in the ocean.

Police say a bag with children's clothing in it has also been recovered.

He says the two survivors told police they had been heading for Vanimo in neighbouring Papua New Guinea but declined to say why.