Local search and rescue head Roki Asikin said powerful waves meant it took three hours to evacuate some survivors to shore.
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Transportation Ministry spokesman Julius Barata said that 21 others were found later by another boat of the same company as the sunken ferry.
On Sunday, fishermen found four people, including a woman and a child wearing life jackets.
A paramedic carries four-year-old boy identified as Rafli who survived the ferry that sank off Sulawesi island at a hospital in Siwa, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015.
The ferry’s engines stopped and it was left adrift in rough seas off the coast of south Slaws last night after high winds prevented rescuers from reaching it.
Officials said the past contact from the captain of the boat stated that water was starting to go into the boat. Armin Sukma said that he had would provide assistance in the search for the ferry.
“We’ve tried our best with all the equipment we have, with the help of the search and rescue team’s helicopters and its Pacitan ship”.
Television footage shows family members in waiting anxiously at the Siwa port for their loved ones.
Over 100 people are missing as a boat traveling between two ports of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi failed to dock at the destination city of Siwa.
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Boat accidents are common in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands, due mainly to overcrowding and poor safety standards.
