BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — Indonesian search crews were still combing the Java Sea on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, after passenger ferry Virgo Transport 8 capsized in bad weather while sailing from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, with 243 people aboard — 213 passengers and 30 crew — leaving a fast-moving casualty count that officials said was still evolving, the Guardian, The Star (Bernama), the BBC, and ANTARA reported.

As of Sunday afternoon local time, Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency Basarnas said 107 people had been rescued, six were confirmed dead, and 130 remained missing, according to updates carried by The Star, the Guardian, and a later BBC revision. Earlier wire tallies differed as survivors and bodies came ashore — including an earlier BBC count of one dead and 102 rescued, and an ANTARA rundown that listed 97 survivors and six dead among 103 people pulled from the water, with 140 still unaccounted for. Officials cautioned that the numbers could shift as more ships returned to port.

The ferry lost contact around 2 a.m. local time Sunday after hitting rough seas. Port and SAR officials put its last known position roughly 80 nautical miles from Banjarmasin — about 150 km (90–93 miles) south of the city — in the Java Sea, the Guardian, The Star, and the BBC reported. Operator PT Virgo reported the distress early Sunday; Basarnas said a joint task force involving the navy, maritime police, and other agencies had put roughly 280 personnel, ships, and at least one helicopter into the search.

Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi, speaking at a news conference in Banjarmasin after helicopter overflights, said the vessel had overturned but had not fully sunk, with its bottom still visible above the water. “From the information we received from the helicopter, the ferry had overturned, so it had not sunk,” he said, in wording carried by The Star and local streams. “We cannot yet determine whether the victims are still inside the ferry or perhaps at locations farther away from the ferry,” he added. Dudy said the sailing permit had been issued in Surabaya based on weather data available at departure Saturday, and that Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) would investigate whether natural, technical, or human factors were to blame.

Local SAR chief I Putu Sudayana said rescuers were fighting waves of up to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) and that even a 40-meter Basarnas vessel was at serious risk, the Guardian reported. Passing commercial craft — including tugboats TB Mauhaw IX and TB TCP and cargo vessel MV Haida — pulled people from the water and were directed toward Tuban and Trisakti harbors, ANTARA said. Families gathered at Banjarmasin’s Trisakti Port, scanning passenger lists as ambulances stood by.

Indonesia’s island geography makes ferries a daily lifeline, and accidents remain grimly common. The BBC noted a separate ferry fire off Madura island last month that killed five, and the Guardian cited other recent sinkings and fires across the archipelago. As of late Sunday local reporting, the Virgo Transport 8 search was still expanding around the last known position and the spots where survivors had already been found — with casualty figures subject to revision.

Dated Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026: Virgo Transport 8 overturned in the Java Sea en route Surabaya–Banjarmasin with 243 aboard; Basarnas afternoon tally 107 rescued, 6 dead, 130 missing — numbers evolving; minister says hull bottom still visible; KNKT probe pending.

Sources