Indonesian authorities have launched a large-scale search operation for the passenger ship “Virgo Transport 8“ after the vessel lost contact in the Java Sea. There were 243 people on board.
The ferry set sail on Saturday from Surabaya on Java island for Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province. In the early hours of Sunday, around 2:00 local time, contact with the ship was lost after the vessel ran into severe weather conditions.
The last known position of the “Virgo Transport 8“ was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometers from Banjarmasin. The Indonesian search and rescue agency Basarnas received the report about two hours after the loss of contact.
A rescue operation was immediately launched. Rescue teams and a Basarnas vessel were sent to the suspected location of the ship. All available resources have been mobilized in the search due to the large number of people on board, said the head of the rescue service in Banjarmasin, I Putu Sudanayat. The operation is also being coordinated with other maritime and government agencies.
The severe weather in the area further complicates the rescue efforts. Authorities are closely monitoring the weather conditions as teams head to the last known position of the ship. At the initial moment of the operation, there was no officially confirmed data on the number of victims, AP News reported.
Meanwhile, information about the rescuers began to change. According to later reports from the region, dozens of people were pulled from the sea by other vessels, with local media reporting 115 rescued. There is also information about one person who died. The exact number of people who are still missing remains to be determined during the rescue operation.
“Virgo Transport 8“ is a passenger Ro-Ro ship built in 1987, with a length of about 119 meters. The vessel is registered under the Indonesian flag.
The incident has caused serious concern in Indonesia, where maritime transport is key to the connections between the country's thousands of islands. The rescue operation is ongoing, and authorities expect to establish the exact fate of the ship and all the people who were on board.
New data is expected from the Indonesian rescue services