Rescuers search for 130 people after Indonesia passenger ship flipped; 6 dead, govt says

Indonesian rescuers are currently hunting for 130 individuals aboard a passenger ship that capsized in the Java Sea. According to the national search and rescue agency, six people have tragically lost their lives in the incident. The ill-fated vessel, the Virgo Transport 8, was carrying a total of 243 people, including 30 crew members, when it lost contact with authorities early Sunday amid challenging weather conditions.

The ship had departed from the city of Surabaya in East Java on Saturday, heading towards the city of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. Late Sunday, the search and rescue agency reported that 107 people had been rescued and safely transported on different ships. Meanwhile, 130 passengers remained unaccounted for, prompting continuous search efforts.

At a press conference on Sunday, Indonesia's Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi revealed that the ship had experienced a significant flip but had not sunk, based on observations from a helicopter crew. The precise cause of the incident remains under investigation. Initially, the agency had claimed the ship had sunk, but this assertion was later corrected.

The head of the Banjarmasin office of the search and rescue agency, I Putu Sudayana, explained in a video statement that evacuees had been transported using multiple vessels, with some slated for relocation to an East Java port. Rescuers swiftly launched their search operation, positioning a team, ships, and a helicopter towards the vessel's last known location.

As a country comprised of 17,000 islands, Indonesia heavily relies on ferries as a primary mode of transportation. While sea routes are often more cost-effective and accessible than air travel, the nation's safety standards for these vessels are not consistently upheld, resulting in a relatively higher accident rate. In fact, just last month, an Indonesian ferry caught fire at sea, resulting in five deaths and 41 people missing, with some individuals jumping overboard in an attempt to escape the flames.