Search underway for about 130 people missing after Indonesian passenger ship overturns

BANJARMASIN, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian rescuers say about 130 passengers and crew are missing after a ferry carrying more than 240 people sank in bad weather in the Java Sea on Sunday. At least 107 people were rescued and the bodies of six passengers were recovered as the search operation expanded in waters around the vessel’s last known position.

The ferry was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, officials said.

The vessel’s captain had earlier reported rough seas with waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) before issuing a distress message, saying the ship was listing, said I Putu Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had overturned and then sunk.

The rescue agency in Banjarmasin said it received a report two hours after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 at about 2 a.m. Sunday. The ship had departed from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, en route to Banjarmasin, a city on Borneo Island.

“The ship’s operator reported the incident to authorities after receiving information that the vessel had encountered bad weather,” Sudayana said in a video briefing.

In response, a rescue ship was headed to the Virgo Transport 8’s estimated last known position, he said, and authorities were deploying rescue teams supported by four vessels, including a navy ship, and a helicopter as the ferry was carrying a large number of passengers and crew.

Survivors are rescued and dead bodies recovered

Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometers (92 miles) from a pier in Banjarmasin. The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 243 people — 213 passengers and 30 crew members — although it is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest.

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.

Search teams, assisted by nearby tugboats and other passing vessels, had rescued 107 people and recovered six bodies by Sunday afternoon, he said.

The Japanese-built Virgo Transport 8 is designed to transport both passengers and vehicles.

Distraught relatives wait for news at a port

Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command center in Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port on Sunday, awaiting word on family members believed to be aboard the ferry. Many anxiously checked passenger manifests and rescue lists as authorities continued searching for survivors.

“I was shocked when I saw my uncle’s name on the passenger list,” said a woman who goes by a single name, Bunga. “But I felt relieved after officials told me he had been rescued.”

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

Last month, at least 211 people were rescued from an Indonesian ferry that caught fire in rough seas near the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, while one person was found dead and four others remain missing. The incident happened less than two weeks after another Indonesian ferry, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire in waters off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead.

Sunday’s accident comes just four days after a fire that gutted a passenger ferry in the Philippines killed at least 76 people, with at least 10 others still missing.

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Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press journalists Fadlan Syam in Jakarta and Edna Tarigan and Andi Jatmiko in Pontianak, Indonesia, contributed.