Indonesia ferry disaster: 52 bodies recovered, 83 still missing

Indonesian search teams have recovered 52 bodies from a ferry that capsized in the Java Sea earlier this month, officials said on Friday, as a dayslong operation continued for those still unaccounted for.

Authorities have rescued 108 people from the vessel, while 83 remain missing.

The ferry, Virgo Transport 8, was travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan on Borneo island with 243 people on board when it sent out a distress call on September 13. The crew reported that the ship was listing in rough seas, with waves reaching 3 metres (10 feet).

Officials later established that the ferry had capsized in the waters of the Masalembo archipelago in the Java Sea.

During the search, divers reached the bodies of passengers by breaking the ferry's windows underwater to get inside the vessel. Footage from the operation showed rescuers carrying body bags aboard inflatable boats and transferring them to a search-and-rescue ship, where they were laid on the deck alongside other remains.

Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency said all available resources were being deployed in the operation. It is also planning to salvage the ferry and lift the wreckage from a depth of about 30 metres (98 feet).

The bodies recovered so far have been taken to the police hospital in Banjarmasin for identification before being returned to their families.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common mode of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.