Key facts
- Indonesia's search and rescue agency recovered more victims from a capsized passenger ship.
- The ferry overturned in the Java Sea last weekend.
- At least 129 people are missing.
- 108 people have been rescued.
- Six bodies were recovered by Sunday afternoon.
- The ferry was traveling from Surabaya to Banjarmasin with over 240 people on board.
JAKARTA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Sunday it had recovered more victims from the wreck of a passenger ship that capsized and sunk in the Java Sea last weekend. The search is continuing for at least 129 people missing after a ferry overturned in bad weather in Indonesia’s Java Sea on Sunday. At least 108 people were rescued, and the bodies of six passengers were recovered as the search operation expanded around the vessel’s last known position. Images from Indonesian search and rescue teams showed the vessel completely capsized. The ferry, with more than 240 people on board, was travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island, officials said. The captain had reported rough seas with waves up to 3 meters before issuing a distress call, saying the ship was listing, said I Putu Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had overturned. The ship was encountering heavy seas during the night when it lost contact. The rescue agency in Banjarmasin said it received a report two hours after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 about 2am Sunday. A rescue ship was headed to the vessel’s last known position, the agency said, and by Sunday afternoon authorities were deploying teams supported by a dozen vessels, including four navy ships, and two helicopters. Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometres from Banjarmasin. The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 243 people – 213 passengers and 30 crew members – although it is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest. The vessel was also transporting 89 vehicles. Sudayana, who is co-ordinating the search, said search teams, assisted by nearby tugboats and other passing vessels, had rescued 107 people and recovered six bodies by Sunday afternoon. The 119-metre 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. Rescuers were concentrating search efforts around the overturned vessel, he told reporters. Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday showed an overturned ferry floating in choppy waters during a helicopter search operation. Separate footage captured exhausted survivors disembarking from a rescue ship at a port in Banjarmasin, while injured victims were carried on stretchers before being taken by ambulances to nearby hospitals. Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command centre in Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port, awaiting word on family members believed to be aboard the ferry. Many anxiously checked passenger manifests and rescue lists as authorities continued searching for survivors.