A passenger ferry operated by PT Virgo Karya Shipping capsized in severe weather conditions in the Java Sea on Sunday. The vessel, identified as the Virgo Transport 8, was en route from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province when it encountered rough seas with waves reaching approximately 3 meters in height. The captain issued a distress call reporting that the ship was listing before contact was lost around 2 a.m. Authorities received notification of the emergency approximately two hours later.
The 119-meter ferry carried approximately 243 people according to its manifest, comprising 213 passengers and 30 crew members, though passenger counts often vary from official documentation in Indonesia. The vessel was also transporting 89 vehicles. By Sunday afternoon, rescue operations had retrieved 108 survivors and recovered six bodies. At least 129 individuals remained unaccounted for as search efforts continued. The ship was floating upside down in the water rather than fully submerged, allowing rescuers to concentrate their efforts around the overturned hull.
Search and rescue operations were coordinated from Banjarmasin and involved multiple agencies. The response included a dozen vessels, four navy ships, and two helicopters deployed to the accident location approximately 148 kilometers from Banjarmasin. The Virgo Transport 8, built in Japan in 1987, had been sold to its current Indonesian operator less than a year prior. Survivors were transported to the port at Banjarmasin, with injured passengers receiving medical treatment at nearby hospitals.
Relatives of those aboard gathered at a command center in Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port to seek information about missing family members. The incident highlights ongoing maritime safety concerns in Indonesia, an archipelago where ferries serve as essential transportation links between thousands of islands. Recent months have seen multiple ferry disasters in the region, including fires aboard Indonesian vessels near Bali and Java, as well as a separate fatal incident involving a Philippine ferry.
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