Indonesia races to find 129 missing after Java Sea ferry capsizes

At least 108 people have been rescued and six bodies recovered after the vessel overturned in the waters off Masalembo, about 148 km from Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province.

Survivors were taken to a temporary medical post at Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin. Some said passengers rushed to the upper deck and scrambled for life jackets as the ferry began to list.

According to its manifest, the ferry was carrying 243 people: 213 passengers and 30 crew, as well as 89 vehicles. The passenger breakdown included 59 adult passengers, one child, and 126 drivers and vehicle assistants, plus 27 ship‑related workers. The vessel lost contact at about 2 a.m. local time on Sunday after its captain reported waves of up to 3 metres and a heavy list to starboard; a passing helicopter later confirmed it had capsized. Authorities received a distress call around two hours after contact was lost.

By Monday, at least 622 personnel had been deployed on 17 vessels and five aircraft, including navy ships and helicopters, to search the area around the wreck. The national search and rescue agency (Basarnas) said divers and navy‑operated underwater drones would be used to look inside and around the overturned hull, but rough seas and strong currents were hampering efforts. Officials said the ferry was not overloaded and was carrying fewer than its maximum capacity of 500 people, though they noted that actual passenger numbers in Indonesia often differ from manifests.

The 119-metre roll-on/roll-off ferry was built in Japan in 1987 and sold to Indonesia last year. It left Surabaya in East Java on Saturday afternoon bound for Banjarmasin, but encountered severe weather overnight. The cause of the capsizing, whether weather-related, technical failure or human error, remains under investigation as families gathered at ports in Surabaya and Banjarmasin awaiting news of missing relatives.