A missing passenger ferry carrying 243 people has been located in Indonesia’s Java Sea. Rescuers have so far managed to pull 102 people alive from the ferry. At least one death has been confirmed. Indonesia’s search and rescue agency is intensifying efforts at sea to find the remaining missing passengers. The ferry went missing amid stormy weather conditions.
The news was reported by BBC Online. Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency said the ferry, named “Vargo Transport 8,” had set out from Surabaya in East Java bound for the city of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. All contact with the ferry was lost around 2am local time Sunday while it was in the Java Sea, about 150 kilometres south of Banjarmasin. A rescue team was deployed to the vessel’s likely last known position as soon as news of it going missing emerged.
Multiple rescue vessels and helicopters continue searching the sea to find the missing alive. Indonesia, a Southeast Asian nation made up of around 17,000 islands, relies on ferries and passenger vessels as one of its primary means of domestic transport. Being cheaper than air travel, ordinary people depend heavily on sea routes to travel to distant islands. However, weak maritime safety standards and frequent overcrowding of vessels often lead to serious maritime accidents in the country.