Deaths from Indonesian ferry sinking in Java Sea rise to 66

(Jakarta = Yonhap News) Correspondent Hyeon-gyu Son = The number of deaths in the recent passenger ship sinking accident in the Java Sea of ​​Indonesia increased to 66.

According to the Associated Press on the 28th (local time), Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency announced that 66 people had died and 69 were missing as of the previous day due to the sinking of 'Vergo Transport 8', which occurred in the Java Sea near Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan Province on the 13th.

As of the 23rd, the number of deaths was 20, but the number increased to over 40 as missing people were found dead one after another.

Rescue teams recovered four bodies from inside the sunken passenger ship on the 25th, and nine additional bodies were found on the coast near the sea of ​​the accident last weekend.

National Search and Rescue Agency operations director Yudi Bramantyo said the search for the missing person had been extended by another week.

The National Search and Rescue Agency evaluates every three days and decides whether to continue searching for missing people.

According to its own regulations, search and rescue operations generally last one week, but can be extended if it is judged that there is a possibility that additional victims will be found.

Earlier, in the early morning of the 13th, Virgo Transport 8 sank in the sea near Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan Province.

At the time of the accident, a total of 243 people were on board the ferry, including 213 passengers and 30 crew members. Of these, 108 were rescued.

In Indonesia, which is made up of 17,000 islands, ships along with airplanes are used as the main means of transportation.

However, safety regulations are often not properly followed, so the actual number of passengers is often different from the boarding list, and ship accidents due to bad weather or fire are frequent.

In 2018, a passenger ship carrying about 200 people sank in a volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra, killing 167 people.