Rescuers today searched for three people missing after a ferry caught fire and sank, killing four people and traumatising survivors who watched loved ones drown.

However bad weather and strong winds disrupted the search and rescue operations this morning.

Bernama reported Johor Fire Department deputy director (operations), Abdul Hamid S Abdullah, as saying that the condition did not allow rescue boats to go out to conduct the search.

He said as many as 10 firemen and five from the track dog unit would use two rescue boats to conduct 'surface searching' from Mersing to Tanjung Leman, covering 42 nautical miles.

The government has ordered an enquiry into the blaze that erupted Saturday on the "Seagull Express," an ageing and unlicensed vessel, as it headed to the tourist island of Pulau Tioman with 106 people on board.

Authorities recovered the bodies of four people, all Malaysians, but three others were missing, the official Bernama news agency said.

Fishing and tourist boats helped pluck the remaining 96 passengers and three crew members from the sea.

Initial investigations indicated engine trouble was the cause of the blaze, police said.

Police probe starts

Meanwhile the police have recorded statements from the captain and two crew members of the ferry.

According to OCPD Deputy Supt Abdullah Sani Salat, the police will only look into the cause of the fire. The Marine Department is the authority that would be conducting a thorough probe on the matter.

"We will help in the efforts to retrieve the wreckage of the ferry that is submerged in the sea. Efforts to look for the three missing passengers are still on going.

"Our main investigations will focus on whether there was any foul play involved in the death of the four passengers," he said.

Missing life jackets

Survivors told of having to hurl their children into the sea as the cabin filled with thick, black smoke. They said many passengers could not swim and were unable to find life jackets.

Li Chin, whose parents drowned, said she was powerless to help them as they sank under the water just metres away from her.

"My mother was unconscious when going underwater and I was unable to do anything although she was so close," the 23-year-old told the Star daily.

Choong Zi Wei, 17, said she could not forget the face of an elderly woman who tried to cling to her in the chaos.

"She kept pulling me down into the water each time she grabbed my hair but we got separated. I just couldn't help her," she told the Star daily.

The government enquiry will set out to determine the cause of the fire, whether the operator followed safety standards and whether the crew had done its best to save passengers.