PARE-PARE, Indonesia, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Indonesian rescue teams were desperately searching for more survivors on Monday as scores remained missing after a ferry carrying 250 passengers and 17 crew sank in stormy seas at the weekend in the country's east.

An official on the island of Sulawesi said only 20 survivors had been found so far and quoted them as saying the ferry rolled over and sank after being hit by waves of more than 5 metres (16 feet) in the early hours of Sunday.

"There is a greater possibility than many more died than we expected because it happened when they were sleeping," Taufik Bulu, head of maritime safety in the port of Pare-pare, said by telephone.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre, said on Monday that six deaths had been confirmed in the accident by Sunday evening.

On Sunday, Transport Minister Jusman Syafi'i Djamal said 150 people had been taken off the ferry, but their condition was unknown and he gave no further details. The discrepancy in the number of possible survivors could not immediately be clarified.

The ferry was travelling from Pare-Pare on the west coast of Sulawesi island to the city of Samarinda on Indonesia's side of Borneo island when it ran into bad weather, said Bulu.

Indonesia relies heavily on ferry services to connect the main islands in the archipelago, the world's largest.

But accidents are common, largely because of years of under-investment in the country's infrastructure and a tendency to overload ferries. (Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia in Jakarta; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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