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Jakarta : Indonesian rescuers said about 140 passengers and crew were missing after a ferry carrying more than 240 people overturned in bad weather in the Java Sea on Sunday.
At least 102 people were rescued and the body of a passenger was recovered as the search operation expanded in waters around the vessel’s last known position.
The ferry was travelling from East Java to South Kalimantan province, officials said.
The rescue agency in South Kalimantan’s city of Banjarmasin said it received a report two hours after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 at about 2 am Sunday.
The ship had departed from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city in East Java province, en route to Banjarmasin on Borneo Island.
In response, a rescue ship was headed to the Virgo Transport 8’s estimated last known position, he said, and authorities were mobilizing all available personnel and assets because the vessel was carrying a large number of passengers and crew.
Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometres from a pier in Banjarmasin. The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 243 people, including 213 passengers and 30 crew members, although it is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest.
Sudayana, who is coordinating the search, said the agency was working with maritime authorities and other relevant agencies while closely monitoring weather conditions in the area.
Search teams, assisted by nearby tugboats and other vessels, had rescued 102 people and recovered one body by Sunday afternoon, he said.
The ferry departed Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, at 10:33 am Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Banjarmasin at about 2 pm Sunday.
The Japanese-built Virgo Transport 8 is designed to transport both passengers and vehicles.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.
Last month, at least 211 people were rescued from an Indonesian ferry that caught fire in rough seas near the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, while one person was found dead and four others remain 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.
Sunday’s accident comes just four days after a fire that gutted a passenger ferry in the Philippines killed at least 76 people, with more than 10 others still missing. (AP)
