Indonesia: 140 Passenger Still Missing After Ship Loses Contact; One Died, 103 Rescued | Updates

Jakarta:  Indonesian rescuers were searching on Sunday for 140 people from a passenger ship that ‌was earlier reported ⁠missing in the Java Sea after 103 others were evacuated, one of whom died, a search and rescue agency official said.

An Indonesian ‌passenger ship carrying 243 people was reported missing after losing contact early on Sunday during bad weather, the search and rescue agency said. The ⁠Virgo ⁠Transport 8 ship set sail on Saturday from the East Java city of Surabaya to the South Kalimantan city of Banjarmasin before losing contact, the agency ⁠said.

I Putu ⁠Sudayana, the head of the agency's Banjarmasin office, said in a video ⁠statement that 103 people had been evacuated using different ships and some of them would be taken to an East Java port.

Rescuers launched a search, ⁠deploying a team, ships and a helicopter toward the passenger vessel's last known position, he said, without stating what happened to the ship.

The Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin, the capital city of South Kalimantan province, said they received a report that the Virgo Transport 8 had experienced a communication failure while en route to the city from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city in East Java province.

Initial information indicated the vessel's last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometres from a pier in Banjarmasin. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a key mode of transportation, with sea routes more affordable and readily available than air travel. However, safety standards are not always rigorously enforced, resulting in a relatively high accident rate.

(With inputs from agencies)