Six people have died and 107 others have been rescued after an Indonesian passenger ferry capsized in the Java Sea, with another 130 people still missing.
Authorities said contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 after the vessel encountered bad weather while travelling from Surabaya to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.
The ferry was last reported to be about 150km south of Banjarmasin at around 2am on Sunday, or 6pm GMT on Saturday.
A major search-and-rescue operation has since been launched, involving ships and a helicopter, with about 280 personnel from Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, navy, maritime police and other agencies taking part.
All vessels operating in the area of the Java Sea have also been alerted to look out for possible survivors.
There were 213 passengers and 30 crew members aboard the 119-metre ferry.
The vessel departed Surabaya at 10.33pm on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Banjarmasin at 2pm on Sunday, according to two maritime monitoring sites. Authorities received the initial distress report at 4.10am.
The incident has left families anxiously waiting for news at ports in Banjarmasin and Surabaya.
At Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin, Rusmilawati was seeking information about eight relatives who were among the passengers. She said they had travelled to Java to visit the tombs of several Islamic scholars before making the return journey by ferry.
She said the family’s last contact came through a WhatsApp status posted by one of the relatives.
“The waves are really frightening tonight. Or is this just what it’s normally like travelling by ship, rocking and crashing against the waves?” the relative had written.
Rusmilawati said she had yet to receive confirmation on whether any of her relatives had been rescued.
Elsewhere, Misnah broke down in tears after learning that her husband, Ahmad Supandi, had survived. Ahmad, a freight driver, was rescued by another vessel, the MV Haida.
At Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, relatives of crew members were also waiting for updates.
Fredy said his youngest sibling, Stevie Manuhua, worked aboard the ferry as a keyboard player entertaining passengers. The pair last spoke two days earlier while the vessel was docked in Surabaya.
“After that, there was no news until now,” he said.
An operations centre has been established at Trisakti Port to coordinate the response.
Indonesia, which has more than 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a common mode of transport. However, maritime accidents remain a recurring problem, with government data recording 111 ship accidents between 2020 and 2026.
In July, the KM Nurul Salsa sank west of Polassi Island in South Sulawesi’s Selayar Islands Regency. Fifty-eight people survived, three died and another 14 remained missing.
Last month, another ferry caught fire off Madura island, killing five people.
