Rescuers searching for 140 people after missing Indonesian passenger ship sinks

The Indonesian passenger ship carrying 243 people was reported missing after losing contact early on Sunday during bad weather.

Indonesian rescuers were searching on Sunday for 140 people from a passenger ship that was earlier reported missing in the Java Sea after 103 others were evacuated, one of whom died, a search and rescue agency official said.

An Indonesian passenger ship carrying 243 people was reported missing after losing contact early on Sunday during bad weather, the search and rescue agency said.

The Virgo Transport 8 ship set sail on Saturday from the East Java city of Surabaya to the South Kalimantan city of Banjarmasin before losing contact, the agency said.

Search and rescue teams, ships, helicopter deployed

I Putu Sudayana, the head of the agency's Banjarmasin office, said in a video statement that 103 people had been evacuated 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 toward the passenger vessel's last known position, he said, without stating what happened to the ship.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a key mode of transportation, with sea routes ⁠more ​affordable and readily available than air travel.

However, ​safety standards are not always rigorously enforced, resulting in a relatively high accident rate.