Indonesian rescuers were searching on Sunday for about 130 people after the passenger ferry Virgo Transport 8 sank in bad weather in the Java Sea.
The vessel was carrying 243 people from Surabaya, the second-largest city in East Java, to Banjarmasin, a port city on Borneo Island in South Kalimantan province. It had set sail on Saturday before losing contact with its operator at about 2am on Sunday.
By Sunday afternoon, rescue teams had pulled 107 people from the water and recovered the bodies of six passengers, according to the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. The ferry’s last known position was about 148 kilometres (92 miles) from a pier in Banjarmasin.
The ship’s captain reported rough seas with waves reaching 3 metres (10 feet) and issued a distress message saying the vessel was listing before authorities received information indicating it had overturned and sunk. The ship’s manifest listed 213 passengers and 30 crew members, though passenger counts in Indonesia often differ from official manifests.
“The ship’s operator reported the incident to authorities after receiving information that the vessel had encountered bad weather,” said I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office, in a video briefing.
Rough conditions continued to hamper the operation, with waves complicating the deployment of four vessels, including a navy ship and a helicopter. “It is extremely risky for vessels. Even our Basarnas vessel, which is 40 metres long, is at great risk,” Sudayana told reporters.
Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command centre at Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port, checking passenger manifests and rescue lists for word on family members. An investigation is under way, with authorities examining factors including the weather and possible technical failures.
The Virgo Transport 8 is designed to carry both passengers and vehicles. Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries because sea routes are more affordable and readily available than air travel, though safety enforcement is often weak.
Last month a fire on a ferry sailing between Bali and Lombok killed one person and left five missing. A fire gutted a passenger ferry in the Philippines four days earlier, killing at least 76 people.