At least six people have died and about 130 remain missing after an Indonesian passenger ferry carrying 243 people sank in the Java Sea on Sunday. 107 have been rescued.

The Virgo Transport 8 left Surabaya in East Java at 10:33 on Saturday, bound for Banjarmasin, a port city on Borneo in South Kalimantan, and was due to arrive at 14:00 on Sunday. It lost contact with its operator, PT Virgo, in the early hours of Sunday after running into bad weather, Hiru News reported. The vessel’s last reported position was roughly 150km (81 nautical miles) from Banjarmasin at about 02:00 local time. The operator raised the alarm at 04:10.

The ship’s captain had told its owners before contact was lost that the vessel was tilting, Al Jazeera reported.

There were 213 passengers and 30 crew on board.

A joint task force drawing on Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, the navy, the maritime police and other agencies has deployed ships and a helicopter, with 280 personnel taking part. An operations post was set up at Trisakti Port on Sunday morning, and all vessels in that part of the Java Sea have been asked to report any sign of survivors.

Conditions are hampering the effort. Rescuers are working through waves of up to 2.5 metres, NewsFirst reported.

“It is extremely risky for vessels,” said I Putu Sudayana, head of the local search and rescue office in Banjarmasin. “Even our Basarnas vessel, which is 40 metres long, is at great risk.”

A moving count

The toll rose through Sunday. NewsFirst and Al Jazeera first reported one dead and 102 rescued of 103 evacuated, with about 140 unaccounted for; by Hiru’s later filing the figures stood at six dead, 107 rescued and 130 missing. The three counts are consistent with one another against the 243 aboard and reflect the progress of the search rather than a disagreement between outlets. They should not be treated as final.

Indonesian authorities are investigating the cause, examining the weather and possible technical failure. No conclusion has been announced.

Indonesia is an archipelago of some 17,000 islands and depends heavily on ferries, which are cheaper and more widely available than air travel. Safety enforcement across the fleet is uneven, and the country has recorded repeated mass-casualty losses — including the Mutiara Sentosa 2 fire off Java in August. In the wider region, the June Aster fire off Palawan last week left victims whom Philippine authorities say may take months to identify.

Update (September 14): 108 rescued, 129 missing, and the search stalls on the weather

Rescuers were still unable to board the capsized vessel on Monday. The count now stands at six dead, 108 rescued and 129 missing — figures carried by both Hiru News and the Daily Mirror, both running Reuters copy. The three numbers sum to 243, matching the total aboard exactly.

One further person has been rescued since Sunday and the confirmed death toll has not moved.

The effort has been scaled up sharply. The national search and rescue agency has now deployed at least 622 personnel, 17 ships, five helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft — more than double the 280 personnel reported on Sunday. Some vessels have reached the site, but Mohammad Syafii, head of the agency, said rescuers could not get inside the capsized hull.

“We would also deploy personnel with underwater rescue skills but the current conditions do not allow us to,” Syafii said. “While waiting for the weather conditions to improve, we are identifying more personnel with special skills.”

Choppy water, high waves and strong winds were impeding the search through Monday. Syafii said waves as high as three metres were striking the ship when it went over.

The site is hard to reach. The wreck lies about 80 nautical miles (nearly 150km) from the command centre at Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin. In good weather the run takes about five hours; in the present conditions it takes up to nine. “The conditions there are quite windy, making it difficult for the vessel to dock,” agency official Arianto Ardi told Reuters.

Video released by the agency shows the red-and-black hull capsized and partly submerged, its underside above the waterline, with two small boats carrying people in rough water nearby.

Not reported

No source gives the nationalities of those on board, and none states whether any Sri Lankans were among the passengers or crew. The vessel’s age, capacity and most recent seaworthiness inspection are not reported, nor is it stated whether the ferry was carrying vehicles or cargo, or whether it was loaded within its licensed limits.

Sources