Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered a tough investigation into a ferry disaster that left 230 passengers missing feared dead.
"A comprehensive investigation must be done. Don't react too softly. We have to protect our people's lives," Yudhoyono said during a meeting on Wednesday with senior officials including Transport Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal.
It was the president's first comments on Sunday's disaster, when a ferry carrying 267 passengers and crew capsized and sank in a fierce storm in the Makassar Strait off western Sulawesi.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by bad weather and so far only 35 survivors and two bodies have been found, leaving little hope for those still listed as lost at sea.
A probe is already underway amid claims the ferry's captain, who survived, ignored storm warnings, that port authorities allowed the ferry to be overloaded and that it was not properly equipped with safety gear.
Many of the survivors managed to stay afloat only thanks to bunches of bananas washed out of the vessel's cargo hold.
Officials have been reluctant to lay any blame until the investigation is complete.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigator was due to arrive in Indonesia on Wednesday to help with the probe.
Yudhoyono, facing a re-election battle mid-next year, told the meeting that maritime authorities had to "check all ships' safety equipment."
"Don't ever issue a permit to sail if a ship is not seaworthy," he reminded the assembled officials, adding that they should also keep a close eye on weather forecasts.
The ex-general promised a transport safety overhaul after a 2006 ferry disaster killed more than 500 people, but ferries continue to sink on a regular basis in the vast archipelago of 17,000 islands.
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