Almost 100 people were rescued when a ferry sailing towards Singapore from the Indonesian island of Batam hit a floating object and reportedly started to sink, authorities in the city-state said.

Ferry operator Batamfast called out two other ferries that rescued all 90 passengers and seven crew and took them back to the Nongsapura ferry terminal in Batam, Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority said in an e-mailed statement.

The authority said early today it had received a report of the incident on the Sea Prince at 9.45pm yesterday.

A passenger, Chella Ho, said the ferry started sinking slowly in deep water and passengers were loaded onto two inflatable boats but those boats also sank because they were overloaded, TV news network Channel News Asia reported.

- Reuters