Hundreds of Indonesian rescuers from the coast guard and the navy raced on Monday to board a capsized passenger ship in the Java sea
Hundreds of Indonesian rescuers from the coast guard joined the search for 129 passengers on Monday, who went missing after an Indonesian passenger ship overturned in the Java Sea with six confirmed fatalities, according to the officials. The virgo transport 8 ship, which was carrying 243 passengers went missing on Sunday during poor weather condition. Since then, 108 individuals have been rescued from the ship, said by the authorities. 622 personnel, 17 ships, five helicopter and aircraft have been deployed by the agency to search the missing passengers, stated by the Syaffi. The weather was quite bad at the time of the incident happened, and waves as high as three meters crashed against the ship, according to Syafii, The incident on sunday occurred only four days after a fire in the Philippines destroyed a passenger ferry, killing at least 76 people and leaving at least ten more unaccounted for.
Personnel with underwater rescue skills will also be deployed, but currently we are not allowed to do it due to bad current condition.
Ship was travelling to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan from Surabaya in East Java; according to the rescue organization. Rescuers found it challenging to enter the capsized ship. Two tiny boats carrying passengers were spotted near the crashed ship, drifting in choppy waters.
The search was hampered on Monday by choppy waters with heavy waves and strong gusts, said Mohammad Syafii, head of the national rescue agency.