One person died and 102 others survived after a ferry carrying 243 people sank in the Java Sea while traveling from the city of Surabaya in East Java to the coastal city of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Indonesian authorities said Sunday. The head of the local search and rescue teams said units at the scene had evacuated 103 people.
One survivor dies as contact with ferry is lost
He added, in remarks to reporters in Banjarmasin, the ferry’s destination, that one of the evacuated passengers had died. The Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency said the Virgo Transport 8 ferry departed Surabaya on Saturday before contact was lost early Sunday amid bad weather.
The country has a relatively high rate of maritime accidents, as safety standards are not strictly enforced in all cases.
