Rescuers search for 130 people after Indonesia passenger ship flipped; six dead, government says
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JAKARTA – Indonesian rescuers were searching on Sept 13 for 130 people from a passenger ship that flipped in the Java Sea after 113 others were evacuated, the country’s search-and-rescue agency said, adding that six people had died.
The Indonesian passenger ship carrying 243 people, including 30 crew members, was reported missing after losing contact with the authorities early on Sept 13 during bad weather, the search-and-rescue agency said.
The Virgo Transport 8 ship set sail on Sept 12 from the East Java city of Surabaya to the South Kalimantan city of Banjarmasin, it said.
On Sept 13, the agency said six people died after rescuers found 107 people safe, while 130 others remained missing.
At a press conference on Sept 13, Indonesia’s Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the ship had flipped and had not sunk, citing observations from the crew of a helicopter, adding that the incident’s cause awaits further investigation. The search-and-rescue agency earlier said the ship had sunk.
I Putu Sudayana, the head of the agency’s Banjarmasin office, said in a video statement that evacuees had been transported using different ships and some of them would be taken to an East Java port. Rescuers launched a search, deploying a team, ships and a helicopter towards the passenger vessel’s last known position, he added.
Relatives of affected passengers looking on as a National Search and Rescue Agency officer writes updates on a whiteboard amid ongoing rescue operations on the stricken Virgo Transport 8.
PHOTO: AFP
Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a key mode of transportation, with sea travel more affordable and readily available than air travel. However, safety standards are not always rigorously enforced, resulting in a relatively high accident rate. REUTERS