Rescue teams in Indonesia have launched a major search operation after a passenger ferry carrying 243 people lost contact in the Java Sea on Sunday morning.
The vessel, identified as Virgo Transport 8, was sailing from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan when communication was cut off at around 2am local time on Sunday.
The Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin confirmed it received an alert about two hours after contact with the ship was lost. The office said the vessel had departed Surabaya at 10:13am on Saturday.
According to I Putu Sudayana, head of the Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin, the ship's operator PT Virgo Yoel Rihi informed authorities that the ferry had encountered bad weather before it disappeared.
The last known location of the ship was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometres from a pier in Banjarmasin.
A rescue team and a rescue vessel have been dispatched from the Basirih Search and Rescue pier in Banjarmasin to the area where the ferry was last spotted. Officials said all available personnel and assets have been mobilized due to the large number of people on board.
Authorities are coordinating with maritime agencies and monitoring weather conditions in the Java Sea as the search continues.
Latest reports indicate one person has died and 102 passengers have been rescued so far, while search operations are ongoing to locate the remaining passengers.
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