Rescuers search for over 100 people after Indonesian passenger ship sinks

Indonesian rescue teams are searching the Java Sea after the passenger ship Virgo Transport 8 lost contact with its operator in the early hours of Sunday and later capsized. The vessel had departed Surabaya on Java on Saturday and was bound for Banjarmasin on Borneo when the incident occurred. Basarnas, the national search-and-rescue agency, reports that 107 people have been pulled from the water while 130 remain unaccounted for.

Authorities say the ship’s last known position was roughly 81 nautical miles (about 150 km) from Banjarmasin. Rescue ships and a helicopter have been combing the area, but teams have faced challenging conditions. I Putu Sudayana, head of the local search-and-rescue office in Banjarmasin, said waves reached about 2.5 metres (8.2 ft), making operations hazardous even for larger SAR vessels.

Indonesia’s transport ministry confirmed the ship capsized, and Basarnas provided the passenger breakdown of 213 passengers and 30 crew members. Officials have not yet determined a definitive cause for the sinking. An investigation is underway, with authorities examining weather factors and possible technical failures as part of their inquiry.

The disaster adds to a string of recent maritime incidents in the archipelagic nation, where ferries are a widely used and affordable means of travel. In recent months, authorities reported a ferry fire between Bali and Lombok that killed one person and left five missing, and a separate sinking in July near Selayar Island involving more than 70 people.