A major search has been launched for a passenger ship carrying 240 people which has vanished in Indonesia. Rescuers began the search operation on Sunday, September 13, after the Virgo Transport 8 lost contact in the Java Sea while travelling from East Java to South Kalimantan on Borneo island.
Communication failure reported
The Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province, said the ship had experienced a communication failure while en route to the city from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city in East Java province.
Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometers (92 miles) from a pier in Banjarmasin. The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 241 passengers. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Rescue personnel dispatched
Arianto Ardi, operations chief at Banjarmasin’s rescue agency, confirmed the loss of contact with the vessel and said rescue personnel had been dispatched to the area. “We have established an operations post at Trisakti,” Arianto said.
Authorities said the ship’s operator reported the incident after receiving information that the vessel had encountered bad weather.
Recent earthquake in Java
The incident comes shortly after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Java, Indonesia. The quake occurred at a depth of 143 km (89 miles) and had no tsunami potential, according to Indonesia's geophysics agency.
“Taking into account the location of the epicentre and the depth of its hypocentre, the earthquake was a deep earthquake caused by intraslab activity,” he said in a statement, adding that tsunami modelling showed no tsunami threat.
