One person has died and 102 people have been rescued after an Indonesian ferry, the Virgo Transport 8, lost contact in the Java Sea during bad weather while sailing from Surabaya to Banjarmasin. The vessel was carrying 243 people, and a large-scale search and rescue operation involving the navy, maritime police and search and rescue agency is under way to locate the remaining passengers and crew, with the incident causing distress among families awaiting news at ports in Banjarmasin and Surabaya.

The ferry lost contact roughly 150km south of Banjarmasin at around 02:00 local time on Sunday, with the operator PT Virgo raising the alarm at 04:10; it had departed Surabaya at 10:33 on Saturday and was due to arrive at 14:00 on Sunday. Ships and a helicopter have been deployed, and other vessels in the area have been asked to look out for survivors, with a survivor already picked up by another ship, the MV Haida. The incident follows a separate ferry fire off Madura island last month that killed five people, highlighting ongoing safety concerns for ferry travel across Indonesia's 17,000-island archipelago.