Indonesian rescue teams are searching for approximately 130 passengers and crew members after a passenger ferry capsized and sank in the Java Sea amid severe weather conditions on Sunday. The vessel, named Virgo Transport 8, was carrying more than 240 people when it encountered rough seas. At least 107 survivors have been rescued, and six bodies were recovered as the search operation expanded around the ship’s last known location. Officials reported that the ferry was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province. Prior to losing contact, the captain issued a distress message indicating that the vessel was experiencing severe listing due to waves reaching up to 3 meters, or 10 feet. I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office, stated that authorities received the incident report two hours after communication ceased around 2 a.m. on Sunday. The Japanese-built vessel, designed to carry both passengers and vehicles, had a manifest listing 213 passengers and 30 crew members, totaling 243 individuals. However, officials noted that actual passenger counts frequently vary from official manifests in Indonesia. In response to the disaster, authorities deployed four vessels, including a navy ship, alongside a helicopter and nearby passing tugboats to assist in the search. Hundreds of concerned relatives gathered at a command center located at Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port on Sunday to review passenger lists and await news regarding their missing family members. Ferries serve as a vital mode of transport across Indonesia’s extensive network of over 17,000 islands, though maritime accidents occur regularly due to lax safety enforcement. This incident follows a series of recent maritime disasters in the region, including two separate ferry fires in Indonesian waters last month and a deadly ferry fire in the Philippines just days prior.
Source: npr.org
