Indonesia continues search for at least 129 missing after ferry
capsizes, 6 bodies recovered
[September 14, 2026]
By IMAN SATRIA and NINIEK KARMINI
BANJARMASIN, Indonesia (AP) — The search is continuing for at least 129
people missing after a ferry overturned in bad weather in Indonesia 's
Java Sea on Sunday.
At least 108 people were rescued and the bodies of six passengers were
recovered as the search operation expanded around the vessel’s last
known position.
The ferry, with more than 240 people on board, was traveling from
Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on
Borneo Island, officials said.
The captain had reported rough seas with waves up to 3 meters (10 feet)
before issuing a distress call, saying the ship was listing, said I Putu
Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office.
Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had
overturned.
The rescue agency in Banjarmasin said it received a report two hours
after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 at about 2 a.m.
Sunday.
A rescue ship was headed to the vessel's last known position, the agency
said, and by Sunday afternoon authorities were deploying teams supported
by a dozen vessels, including four navy ships, and two helicopters.
Survivors are rescued and dead bodies recovered
Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in
the Java Sea, about 148 kilometers (92 miles) from Banjarmasin. The
ship's manifest said it was carrying 243 people — 213 passengers and 30
crew members — although it is common in Indonesia for the number of
passengers to differ from the manifest. The vessel was also transporting
89 vehicles.
Sudayana, who is coordinating the search, said search teams, assisted by
nearby tugboats and other passing vessels, had rescued 107 people and
recovered six bodies by Sunday afternoon.
The 119-meter (390-foot) Virgo Transport 8 ferry was built in Japan in
1987 and operated there until last year before being sold to the current
Indonesian operator, PT Virgo Karya Shipping.
Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said aerial searches showed the
ferry was floating upside down and had not sunk. Rescuers were
concentrating search efforts around the overturned ferry, he told
reporters Sunday.
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In this aerial image taken from video released by Indonesia's
National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), the bottom of
passenger ferry Virgo Transport 8 is seen above the water after it
overturned in bad weather in the Java Sea, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (BASARNAS
via AP)
Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday
showed an overturned ferry floating in choppy waters during a
helicopter search operation. Separate footage captured exhausted
survivors disembarking from a rescue ship at a port in Banjarmasin,
while injured victims were carried on stretchers before being taken
by ambulances to nearby hospitals.
Distraught relatives wait for news at a port
Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command center in Banjarmasin's
Trisakti port, awaiting word on family members believed to be aboard
the ferry. Many anxiously checked passenger manifests and rescue
lists as authorities continued searching for survivors.
“I was shocked when I saw my uncle’s name on the passenger list,”
said a woman who goes by a single name, Bunga. “But I felt relieved
after officials told me he had been rescued.”
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where
ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly,
with weak safety enforcement often blamed.
At least 211 people were rescued from an Indonesian ferry that
caught fire last month in rough seas near the Indonesian tourist
island of Bali, while one person was found dead and four others
remained missing. The incident happened less than two weeks after
another Indonesian ferry, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire off the
main island of Java, with the loss of at least five people.
Sunday’s accident comes just four days after a fire that gutted a
passenger ferry in the Philippines killed at least 76 people, with
at least 10 others still missing.
___
Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press journalists Fadlan
Syam in Jakarta and Edna Tarigan and Andi Jatmiko in Pontianak,
Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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