OMM Newsroom
Search efforts continued for 130 people after a passenger vessel sank in Indonesia’s Java Sea. According to the country’s search and rescue agency, six people died in the incident, while 107 were safely evacuated.
The Virgo Transport 8 departed Surabaya in East Java on Saturday for Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province. The vessel lost contact with authorities on Sunday morning amid adverse weather conditions.
The search and rescue agency said 243 people, including 30 crew members, were aboard the vessel. I Putu Sudayana, head of the agency’s Banjarmasin office, said the survivors were being transported by various vessels, with some expected to be taken to a port in East Java.
Rescuers deployed teams, boats and helicopters to the area where the vessel was last known to be located. The agency had earlier confirmed that the ship sank but provided no further details about the incident.
Indonesia is an archipelago of roughly 17,000 islands, and its population relies heavily on ferries for transportation. Although sea travel is more affordable than air travel, inconsistent enforcement of safety standards has contributed to the country’s persistently high number of maritime accidents.
