Hull floating; safety standards questioned: Indonesia ferry tragedy leaves 6 dead, 129 missing

Jakarta: Rescuers in Indonesia have intensified a massive search in the Java Sea after a passenger ferry overturned during severe weather, leaving at least six people dead and 129 others missing. 

The vessel, named the Virgo Transport 8, was travelling from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city in East Java province, to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province on Borneo Island when tragedy struck.

Trouble began early on Sunday morning when the ferry’s captain issued an urgent distress call. He reported that the 119-metre ship was listing badly amidst choppy seas with waves reaching up to three metres (10 feet) high. Contact with the shipping company was lost at around 2:00 a.m. Sunday. Roughly two hours later, authorities received information that the vessel had capsized in the Masalembo waters of the Java Sea, approximately 148 kilometres (92 miles) from Banjarmasin. Helicopter reconnaissance footage released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed the overturned hull floating in rough water.

Rescue efforts began immediately on Sunday. Nearby tugboats and passing vessels joined search teams, managing to rescue 108 survivors and recover six bodies from the sea.

Divers and drones join search operation

By Monday, emergency response teams significantly scaled up operations around the wreck, which rescuers successfully located. A total of 17 vessels, including navy warships, alongside five aircraft were deployed across the area. About 622 personnel from the military, police, and other government agencies joined the effort.

Specialized navy divers and underwater drones were sent into the water to search in and around the sunken ferry, aiming to speed up victim evacuations.

"We will maximise the search operation in six sectors that we have divided by prioritising the search for floating victims," said Mohammad Syafii, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

Speaking at a video briefing on Monday, Syafii expressed optimism about finding survivors. "We remain hopeful of finding more survivors," he stated.

Relatives wait at ports as ship records examined

Anxious families gathered at command centres set up at Surabaya port and Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port, waiting desperately for word on missing family members.

Official paperwork indicates that the Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 243 people — 213 passengers and 30 crew members — as well as 89 vehicles. However, officials noted that actual passenger figures in Indonesia frequently differ from official manifests.

Addressing questions regarding vessel capacity, Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi told a news conference on Monday that the ferry was not overloaded. He stated that the ship was carrying passengers below its maximum limit of 500 people. Records show the 390-foot ferry was constructed in Japan in 1987 and operated there until last year, when it was sold to Indonesia.

Safety standards questioned amid ongoing searches

Indonesia is a massive archipelago comprising more than 17,000 islands, making ferry travel a necessity for daily transport and tourism. However, maritime disasters happen regularly across the country, driven by lax safety standards and unpredictable weather.

The ferry tragedy unfolds as emergency teams continue a separate search elsewhere in the country. Rescuers are still hunting for a speedboat carrying eight people, including five journalists working for local and international news agencies, which went missing last week near the Mount Anak Krakatau volcano in Banten province.