Indonesia Rescuers Search for 140 Missing After Passenger Ship Sinks in Java Sea
Indonesian rescuers are searching for 140 people missing after a passenger ship lost contact in the Java Sea; 103 were evacuated, one of whom died.
Indonesian search and rescue teams were scouring the Java Sea on Sunday for 140 people still unaccounted for after a passenger ship lost contact in bad weather, officials said.
The vessel, Virgo Transport 8, had departed Surabaya in East Java on Saturday bound for Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. It was carrying 243 people when contact was lost early on Sunday, according to the search and rescue agency.
I Putu Sudayana, who heads the agency's Banjarmasin office, said in a video statement that 103 people had been evacuated onto various ships, and that one of the survivors had died. Some of those rescued were to be taken to a port in East Java.
Rescuers dispatched a team, vessels and a helicopter toward the ship's last known position. Sudayana did not say what had happened to the vessel.
The incident underscores Indonesia's heavy dependence on ferry transport. The archipelago of 17,000 islands relies on sea routes as a more affordable and accessible alternative to air travel, but safety standards are not always strictly enforced, contributing to a comparatively high accident rate.