Indonesian passenger ship overturns in Java Sea, leaving 130 missing

Indonesian rescuers intensified a search in the Java Sea for 130 people reported missing after the passenger ship Virgo Transport 8 overturned and sank in bad weather.

At least 107 people were rescued and six bodies recovered after the vessel, carrying 243 people including 213 passengers and 30 crew members, lost contact with authorities early on Sunday. The ship had departed Surabaya in East Java on Saturday for Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.

I Putu Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office, said the vessel’s captain had reported rough seas, with waves reaching up to three metres, before sending a distress message. “The ship’s operator reported the incident to authorities after receiving information that the vessel had encountered bad weather,” Sudayana said in a video briefing.

The captain had reported that the vessel was listing before authorities received information that it had overturned and subsequently sunk, officials said. The Banjarmasin search and rescue agency said it received a report about two hours after contact with the ship was lost at around 2am on Sunday. The vessel’s last known position was about 148 kilometres from a pier in Banjarmasin.

Search teams were deployed to the area, supported by four vessels, including a navy ship, as well as a helicopter. Nearby tugboats and other vessels also assisted in the rescue operation. By Sunday afternoon, rescuers had brought 107 people to safety and recovered six bodies, Sudayana said. The rescued passengers were transported on different vessels, with some expected to be taken to a port in East Java.

Hundreds of relatives gathered at Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port command centre, checking passenger manifests and rescue lists as authorities continued efforts to locate those still missing. The Japanese-built Virgo Transport 8 was designed to carry both passengers and vehicles. Officials cautioned that the manifest figure may not reflect the actual number aboard, as passenger numbers on Indonesian ferries can differ from official records.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries for inter-island travel. Maritime accidents remain a recurring concern, with safety enforcement frequently under scrutiny. The latest incident comes days after a ferry fire in the Philippines killed at least 76 people and left others missing. The latest accident follows another Indonesian ferry disaster last month, when at least 211 people were rescued from a vessel that caught fire in rough seas near Bali; one died and four remained missing. The incident happened less than two weeks after another Indonesian ferry, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire in waters off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead.