"Thirty-eight have been recovered and three of them have died," head of the center, JA Barata said in a written statement received at 12.30pm.
He said all of the victims had been taken to the Lasusua hospital in the district of Kolaka Utara.
Four passengers who were saved by fishing boat early on Sunday had been taken to Siwa port.
"So totally 42 passengers have been recovered," he said.
KM Marina carrying 94 adult and 12 child passengers lost contact on Saturday after being hit by waves while on its way from Kolaka Utara district in Southeast Sulawesi to Bansalae in South Sulawesi.
"Based on the information we received, KM Marina that had set sail at 11am local time could not be contacted until now," South and West Sulawesi regional police command spokesman Senior Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera said.
He said the last contact was established with the ship at 4pm. Since 5.15pm, a search and rescue team had been following up on the information by scouring the ships last known coordinates but so far they had been unable to trace it.
Hundreds of family members of the passengers of KM Marina crowded the office of the port of the Kolaka district in Southeast Asia awaiting information about the ship.
Yusril, one of the family members of a passenger, said at around 15.09 hours, his child, who is a passenger of the express boat, called him but hung up before it was attended.
"My child called me but before we could take the call, it was out. We tried to call back but it was inactive," he said.
When he had tried to call at 13.45 hours, his handphone was inactive.
"Normally, at that hour, there was a signal but when I tried to contact him, his phone was inactive and now it is already 18.00 hours but it continues to be inactive," he said.
Yusril hoped all passengers of Marina Express, including his son, were safe.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
