Indonesian search and rescue teams are looking for 140 people after a passenger vessel carrying 243 people lost contact in the Java Sea amid severe weather conditions, authorities said.
The country’s search and rescue agency said 103 people had been evacuated from the vessel, although one of those rescued subsequently died.
The ship, Virgo Transport 8, left Surabaya in East Java on Saturday and was travelling to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan when communication with the vessel was lost early Sunday.
I Putu Sudayana, head of the search and rescue agency’s Banjarmasin office, said in a video statement that several vessels were involved in rescuing the passengers. Some of those evacuated were expected to be taken to a port in East Java.
Authorities have sent rescue personnel, boats and a helicopter to the location where the vessel was last detected. Officials have yet to establish what happened to the ship or provide further information about its condition.
Indonesia, an archipelago made up of around 17,000 islands, depends extensively on maritime transportation, with passenger ferries providing an important link between its many islands.
Despite the importance of sea travel, maritime accidents remain relatively common in the country, while safety regulations are not always applied uniformly throughout the industry.
