Asikin said he expects them to arrive at the boat’s location in the very early hours of Sunday.
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The passengers included 14 children, he said.
Alamsyah, who only uses one name as is common in Indonesia, said rescue officials have had reports that some of the missing passengers have been found by locals and have returned to their homes.
“We’re preparing a large ship to search for the ferry because waves are high”, Ridwan said, as reported by tempo.co on Saturday.
News website Detik.com earlier said 108 people were on board the ship which was heading across the Gulf of Boni for South Sulawesi when it “sank”.
Transportation ministry spokesman JA Barata said a distress signal was sent out much later in the day saying the boat had “had a collision as an effect of big waves”.
“It is still hard to know what happened, because the survivors’ conditions are still weak”, an agency official said.
Television footage showed dozens of family members anxiously waiting for their loved ones at the port.
More than 100 people were trapped aboard an Indonesian passenger boat that broke down in rough waters Saturday afternoon, and rescuers were attempting to reach the vessel.
Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands linked by ferries, but these services are plagued by a poor safety record.
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Survivors of the ferry that sank off Sulawesi island Bertha, and her grandson Rafli lie on a bed as a relative stands nearby at a hospital in Siwa, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015.
