Indonesia calls off operation to retrieve ferry victims

Relatives of missing passengers of a ferry that sank at Lake Toba pray in Simalungun, North Sumatra, Indonesia July 1, 2018. Picture taken July 1, 2018. Antara Foto/Sigid Kurniawan/via REUTERS

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia said on Monday it was calling off a two-week operation to retrieve the bodies of nearly 200 passengers thought to have drowned in one of the world's deepest volcanic lakes.

The overcrowded wooden ferry capsized during a storm on June 18 in Lake Toba, which is around 450 metres (1,500 feet) deep, as travellers were heading home after the Eid holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting season.