Indonesian authorities have launched a massive search and rescue operation in the Java Sea after the scheduled ferry “Virgo Transport 8” disappeared from radar. The passenger ship, which set sail from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city located in East Java province, and headed to the port city of Banjarmasin in southern Borneo, suddenly cut all radio and satellite communications while in open navigation. There are 243 people on board the vessel, including passengers and crew members, as confirmed by the official cargo manifest.
Rescue services to the last registered point of contact
The emergency signal was triggered when the naval operator alerted the emergency services after receiving the latest on-board information reporting a rapid and violent worsening of weather and sea conditions in the transit area. The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) immediately mobilized its men from its headquarters in Banjarmasin. Arianto Ardi, operations manager of the local rescue agency, confirmed the immediate dispatch of patrol boats, patrol boats and helicopters to the last recorded point of contact, identified in the open sea about 148 kilometers (92 miles) from the pier of the port of Trisakti.
“We have set up an emergency operational command post at the port of Trisakti to coordinate the naval and air vehicles involved in the patrols”, declared Ardi, specifying that at the moment there is no direct news of victims or of a possible sinking. In these hours the rescue teams continue to search the stretch of sea defying the adverse weather conditions in the hope of tracking down the adrift vessel.
The evacuees
One person died and over a hundred were rescued during the first rescue operations. “We have made every effort to search for victims. Some passengers have already been successfully evacuated by teams on site. We can inform you that the total number of evacuated passengers is 103 people,” said the local head of search and rescue operations. However, one of the rescued passengers died, he told reporters in the port city of Banjarmasin, the ship’s destination.
Ferries in Indonesia
Maritime transport is the backbone of connections between the over 17 thousand islands of the Indonesian archipelago: sea routes are cheaper and more easily available than air travel, and for this reason ferries are the main means of transport. However, the combination of sudden tropical storms, overcrowded routes and sometimes precarious safety standards makes ship accidents in the region a constant threat to travellers’ safety.