Fourteen tourists were rescued when their boat struck a reef in Indonesia.

The passengers were sailing off the coast of East Nusa Tenggara when their vessel smashed into corals on May 14 evening.

Rescue efforts were launched after the local search and rescue office was notified at 7 pm.

They rushed to the site near Padar Island, but found that another tour boat was already evacuating passengers from the sinking ship, the KM Wafil Putra. All 16 people onboard - 14 tourists and two Indonesian crew - were safe.

Eddy Suryono, coordinator of the Manggarai Barat disaster response office (Basarnas), said: 'We received a report at 7:20 pm local time and were informed that the boat hit a reef and ran aground with a total of 16 people on board. Fortunately, there were no casualties in this incident.

'The damaged boat was evacuated by the Bintang Laut vessel and transferred to Basarnas and the coast guard.'

The rescued individuals were taken to the Labuan Bajo Marina Port at 10:51 pm.

Fathur Rahman, head of the Maumere Search and Rescue Office, said the boat was travelling from West Nusa Tenggara to Padar Island when it struck the reef due to limited visibility and manoeuvring space.

Maxianus Mooy of the Labuan Bajo Port Authority said: 'The voyage was going smoothly as usual, but due to the situation — perhaps the tide was low — the captain likely did not pay enough attention to navigation, which caused the boat to hit the reef.'

He added that the KM Wafil Putra had a valid sailing permit.

The incident is the latest maritime accident in the area.

On August 1, a speedboat capsized off the waters of Komodo National Park. All 12 tourists onboard were rescued.

A week later, the Monalisa Satu tour boat sank off Padar Island due to tall waves and strong winds. Eight passengers onboard, including both foreigners and Indonesians, were safely rescued.