A passenger ship carrying 240 people has lost contact in the Java Sea, prompting an urgent search-and-rescue operation by Indonesian authorities. The vessel, Virgo Transport 8, was sailing from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin on the island of Borneo when communications broke down, raising concern given the large number of people aboard and Indonesia's history of maritime accidents.

The ship was last tracked around 92 miles from a pier in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province, according to Indonesia's Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. Rescue teams launched their operation after being alerted to a communications failure aboard the vessel, though no deaths or injuries had been reported as of Sunday. It remains unclear what caused the loss of contact or whether weather played a role, and the search for the ship was continuing.