6 people were killed and 107 others rescued when an Indonesian ferry sank in the Java Sea

The Indonesian search and rescue agency said that 6 people drowned, while 107 were rescued from an Indonesian passenger ferry, which was previously reported missing in the Java Sea.

The agency added that rescue teams are currently searching for the rest of the missing passengers, who number about 130 people.

The authorities explained that an Indonesian passenger ship, carrying 243 people, was reported missing after communication with it was lost early Sunday morning, during bad weather conditions.

The agency added that the Virgo Transport 8 ship sailed on Saturday from the city of Surabaya in East Java to the city of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, and its last reported location was about 150 kilometers south of Banjarmasin at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, before contact with it was lost.

Indonesian Minister of Transport, Dodi Puruagandi, announced that the ferry had capsized.

He said in a press conference in Banjarmasin: “According to the information we received, and based on aerial surveillance operations, the ship capsized but did not sink. At three o’clock in the afternoon (local time), it had not yet sunk, but it capsized.”

The head of the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency office in Banjarmasin, I Putu Sudayana, said: “We received a report that contact with the ferry Virgo Transport 8 had been lost, and we immediately sent personnel towards the last spotted location of the ferry, about 150 kilometers from the port of Banjarmasin in the Java Sea.”

The Indonesian authorities formed a joint work team that includes the search and rescue agency, the navy, the marine police, and other parties to coordinate rescue efforts.

Several ships and a helicopter were deployed at the site, and about 280 individuals are participating in the rescue operation. All ships in the Java Sea area have also been alerted to report any signs of passengers. An operations center was established to deal with the incident in the Trisakti port area on Sunday morning.

Earlier on Sunday, Ai Putu Sudayana, head of the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency office in Banjarmasin, said in a video statement that 103 people were evacuated using different ships, and some of them will be transferred to one of the East Java ports.

He added that the rescue teams launched a search operation, and deployed a team, ships and a helicopter towards the last known location of the passenger ship.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a main means of transportation, as sea transportation is less expensive and more available than air travel.