Overview
- Officials say the Virgo Transport 8 stopped transmitting position signals in the early hours of Sunday, September 13, while en route from Surabaya to Banjarmasin with 240 people on board.
- MarineTraffic and Basarnas placed the ferry about 80 nautical miles southwest of the Basirih pier in Banjarmasin before contact was lost.
- Basarnas has deployed multiple rescue ships and personnel and set up an operations post at Trisakti to search the last reported coordinates.
- Crew radioed that the vessel was facing adverse weather and was listing prior to the loss of contact, and authorities say the ferry is presumed to have sunk though that outcome is not yet confirmed.
- The case highlights recurring safety problems in Indonesia’s interisland ferry system, including aging vessels, weak enforcement of rules and risks from bad weather, which could increase pressure for tighter oversight if survivors are not found.