Indonesia searches for 140 people after Java Sea ferry loses contact
Indonesian rescuers were searching for 140 people on September 13 after the Virgo Transport 8 lost contact in bad weather; an official said 103 had been evacuated, including one who died.
In short
- Indonesian rescuers were searching for 140 people on September 13 after the Virgo Transport 8 lost contact in bad weather; an official said 103 had been evacuated, including one who died.
Indonesian search teams were looking for 140 people on September 13, 2026, after the passenger vessel Virgo Transport 8 lost contact in bad weather in the Java Sea, according to a rescue official cited by The Guardian.
I Putu Sudayana, head of the search and rescue agency’s Banjarmasin office, said 103 people had been evacuated aboard several ships. One of those evacuated had died, he said. The figures were an early account of an operation still under way.
The vessel had left Surabaya in East Java on September 12 for Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. Contact was lost at about 2 a.m. on September 13, and the rescue office received the report roughly two hours later, according to the agency’s account.
Rescuers deployed ships, a helicopter and personnel toward the vessel’s last reported position. Sudayana’s statement did not establish what had happened to the ship, leaving its condition unclear in the available official account.
The Associated Press separately reported the loss of contact and the deployment of rescuers, citing the same regional rescue office. Its earlier dispatch preceded the evacuation figures reported by The Guardian.
