Indonesian rescue teams continued searching Monday for 129 people still missing after the Virgo Transport 8 capsized in the Java Sea, as families waited for news of their loved ones.
Six people have been confirmed dead and at least 108 others rescued, according to National Search and Rescue Agency chief Mohammad Syafii.
The ferry was carrying 243 people — 213 passengers and 30 crew members — when it lost contact with its shipping company early Sunday after leaving Surabaya, East Java, for Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
Five aircraft and 17 vessels, including navy warships, were deployed in the search operation.
“We will maximise the search operation in six sectors that we have divided by prioritising the search for floating victims,” said Syafii.
“Hopefully, we can find the victims in safe condition,” he added.
Syafii said divers and underwater drones would also be deployed to search in and around the wreck, which rescuers had located.
Search and rescue teams have focused their operations on waters around the vessel’s last known location.
The Virgo Transport 8 began to tilt after waves struck its starboard side, according to information provided by the vessel’s captain to the search and rescue team. The vessel subsequently capsized in the Java Sea.
Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said at a press conference Monday that the ferry was not overloaded and was carrying passengers below its maximum capacity of 500 people.
Families of those still missing continued to wait for information as rescuers searched the waters around the wreck.
Passengers who survived the disaster also recounted what happened before and after the ferry capsized.
Agus, an expedition truck driver from Palangkaraya, was in the sleeping quarters when a fellow driver told him that the vessel had begun to tilt.
The incident happened at around 1 a.m., when most of the passengers were asleep. Agus said he did not hear any announcement from the crew warning passengers that the vessel was in danger.
“When I woke up, there was no announcement. I only heard from my friends that the ship was tilting,” he told journalist Donny Muslim at Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin on Sunday evening.
Agus said the incident happened quickly, causing panic among passengers. He immediately left the sleeping quarters and headed toward a lifeboat that was already in the water.
Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that relies heavily on boat connections for daily transport and tourism.
Lax safety standards and unpredictable weather are among the main causes of such disasters.
A week before the Virgo Transport 8 capsized, a speedboat carrying eight people, including five journalists working for local and international news agencies, went missing near Mount Anak Krakatau in Banten province. – with reports from Agence France-Presse
