Indonesia Widens Java Sea Search for 129 Missing After Ferry Capsizes
Indonesian rescuers intensified the search for 129 people missing after the Virgo Transport 8 ferry capsized in the Java Sea, with six dead and 108 rescued.
Indonesian search teams stepped up efforts on Monday to locate 129 people still unaccounted for after a passenger ferry capsized in the Java Sea a day earlier, as distraught relatives waited at ports on Borneo and in East Java for news of their families.
At least six passengers were killed and 108 people were rescued on Sunday, when the Virgo Transport 8 went down in bad weather while sailing from Surabaya to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. The vessel's captain had issued a distress call reporting that the ship was listing in rough seas with waves reaching up to three metres.
Contact with the ferry was lost at about 2 a.m. Sunday, and roughly two hours later authorities received word that it had overturned in the Masalembo waters, about 148 kilometres from Banjarmasin. Footage released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed the upturned hull drifting in choppy seas during a helicopter sweep.
On Monday, 17 ships and aircraft carrying about 622 personnel from the military, police and other agencies were deployed, according to agency chief Mohammad Syafii. He said specialised underwater teams and navy-operated underwater drones were also being sent to strengthen the operation and speed up the evacuation of victims.
"We remain hopeful of finding more survivors," Syafii said in a video briefing.
Search crews were assisted by nearby tugboats and other passing vessels during Sunday's rescue effort. The ship's manifest listed 243 people on board — 213 passengers and 30 crew — along with 89 vehicles, though passenger counts in Indonesia frequently differ from official records.
The 119-metre ferry was built in Japan in 1987 and operated there until last year, when it was sold to an Indonesian company.
Families gathered at a command centre at Banjarmasin's Trisakti port and at a port in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city, awaiting word on those believed to have been aboard and still missing.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries for travel, and such disasters occur regularly, in part because safety standards are weakly enforced.