Key facts
- Indonesian authorities are continuing to search for over 100 people missing after the passenger ship Virgo Transport 8 sank in the Java Sea.
- The confirmed death toll has risen to 10, with 125 people still unaccounted for.
- 108 people have been rescued.
- The ferry was traveling from Surabaya to Banjarmasin with over 240 people on board.
- The vessel overturned in rough seas with waves up to 3 meters.
Indonesian authorities continued their search on Monday for more than a hundred people still missing after the passenger ship Virgo Transport 8 sank in the Java Sea last week. The confirmed death toll has risen to 10, with 125 people remaining unaccounted for and 108 people having survived. The ferry overturned in rough seas with waves up to 3 meters, according to I Putu Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. The captain had reported rough seas before issuing a distress call, saying the ship was listing. Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had overturned. The ship was encountering heavy seas during the night when it lost contact. The vessel, with more than 240 people on board, was travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island. The ship's manifest stated it was carrying 243 people – 213 passengers and 30 crew members – although the number of passengers often differs from the manifest in Indonesia. The vessel was also transporting 89 vehicles. Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed an overturned ferry floating in choppy waters. Separate footage captured exhausted survivors disembarking from a rescue ship at a port in Banjarmasin, while injured victims were carried on stretchers. Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command centre in Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port, awaiting word on family members believed to be aboard the ferry. The 119-meter Virgo Transport 8 ferry was built in Japan in 1987 and operated there until last year, when it was sold to the current Indonesian operator, PT Virgo Karya Shipping. Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said aerial searches showed the ferry was floating upside down and had not sunk.