Java Sea search still short 129 after Virgo Transport 8 capsizes

Indonesian rescuers spent Monday trying to reach the overturned hull of the Virgo Transport 8 in the Java Sea. Six people are confirmed dead. One hundred and eight have been pulled from the water. One hundred and twenty-nine remain missing. The national search and rescue agency, Basarnas, said 622 personnel were on the scene with 17 vessels and five aircraft, including navy ships and helicopters. Divers and underwater drones were ready, but waves and current kept crews off the wreck for most of the day.

The ferry left Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday bound for Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. The manifest listed 243 people: 213 passengers and 30 crew, plus 89 vehicles. Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the ship is certified for 500 passengers and was not overloaded. Its last reported position was about 150 kilometres from Banjarmasin, near Masalembo, around 2 a.m. on Sunday. The captain had already radioed waves of up to three metres and a heavy list to starboard. Contact then dropped. A passing helicopter later found the vessel capsized. A distress call reached authorities about two hours after the last radio contact.

Survivor Rinto Arahap, 33, told AFP that many passengers were asleep when the ship began to lean. He heard what sounded like metal breaking about five hours into the crossing. People were panicking. Some climbed onto tables, some were pushing each other, he said. Survivors were taken to a temporary medical post at Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin. Some said they rushed to the upper deck and fought for life jackets as the ferry rolled.

Heri Purwanto, head of the Banjarmasin Sea Port Authority, said his office responded as soon as the report arrived. Arianto Ardi of Basarnas said by Monday afternoon that none of the 129 missing people had been found and that wind made it hard for rescue vessels to dock against the hull. Edy Prakoso, another agency official, said the ship leaned after strong waves hit the starboard side. I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin search-and-rescue office, put wave height during the first hours of the search at 2.5 metres.

Indonesia is an archipelago of roughly 17,000 islands. Ferries move people and goods on routes that air tickets still price out of reach for many families. The Virgo Transport 8 is about 400 feet long. It is one of the ordinary working ships that stitch Java to Kalimantan. When one of those ships rolls in the Java Sea, the first hours decide how many people stay inside the hull and how many reach the water with a jacket. Weather on Sunday and Monday cut that window.

The passenger list, as reported by Basarnas, included 59 adult passengers, one child, and 126 drivers and vehicle assistants, plus 27 ship-related workers. That mix is typical of a vehicle ferry: families, truck crews, and men who ride with cargo. It also means many of the missing may still be in cabins or on vehicle decks rather than in open water. That is why Basarnas wants divers and drones inside the wreck. Until the sea drops, those teams wait.

A separate search continued for eight people, including five journalists, whose speedboat vanished in the Sunda Strait during a reporting trip to Anak Krakatoa after an eruption a week earlier. Police on Enggano Island were waiting on tests to identify a body found on the shore. The two incidents are not linked. They sit on the same calendar and the same set of sea-state problems: small and mid-size vessels, night crossings, and weather that arrives faster than a radio schedule can handle.

Monday's operation used navy, police, Basarnas and company boats. Two helicopters worked the search box about 90 miles from shore. Officials have not issued a cause beyond the captain's report of heavy seas and a starboard list. There has been no public finding on watertight doors, vehicle lashings, or stability calculations. Those questions will come after the missing are counted.

For families waiting at Trisakti Port, the useful number is still 129. Each hour of wind that keeps divers off the hull lowers the chance that the next count moves from missing to rescued. Basarnas said the search would continue through the night if the sea allowed. As of Monday evening, it had not.