Six people died and 130 were missing after a ferry overturned in the Java Sea on Sunday, Indonesian rescuers said.
The vessel, carrying 243 passengers and crew, was sailing from East Java to South Kalimantan on the Borneo island when it was caught in bad weather, officials said.
The Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province, said that they received a report that the Virgo Transport 8 had experienced a communication failure en route to the city from Surabaya in East Java. The agency promptly deployed emergency personnel who brought at least 107 people to safety.
I Putu Sudayana, the head of the Search and Rescue Office, said the vessel’s captain had reported rough seas with waves up to 3m before issuing a distress message, saying the ship was listing. Authorities later received information indicating the ferry had overturned.
The rescue agency said that the vessel’s operator had lost contact with it at around 2am local time on Sunday. “The operator reported the incident to authorities after receiving information that the vessel had encountered bad weather,” Mr Sudayana said in a video briefing.
Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148km from a pier in Banjarmasin.
The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 213 passengers and 30 crew members. It’s, however, common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest.
Mr Sudayana, who is coordinating the search, said the agency was working with maritime authorities and other relevant agencies while closely monitoring weather conditions in the area.
Indonesia is an archipelago of over 17,000 islands and ferries are a common method of travel. Deadly accidents occur regularly and are often blamed on weak enforcement of safety rules.
Just last month, a ferry caught fire in rough seas near the tourist island of Bali, leaving one person dead and four missing. The incident occurred less than two weeks after another Indonesian ferry, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, had caught fire off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead.
Sunday’s accident comes four days after a fire gutted a passenger ferry in the Philippines, killing at least 76 people.
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