Indonesia's search and rescue agency reported the ship was last located about 150km south of Banjarmasin around 02:00 local time on Sunday, which is 18:00 GMT on Saturday. The operator, PT Virgo, issued an initial distress report at 04:10, and the ship had left Surabaya at 10:33 on Saturday, scheduled to reach Banjarmasin at 14:00 on Sunday, maritime monitoring data show.
A joint task force has been mobilised, bringing together the national search and rescue agency, the navy, maritime police and other parties. Several ships and a helicopter have been dispatched to the search area and nearby vessels were alerted to report any signs of passengers. An operations post to coordinate the response was set up at Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin on Sunday morning.
So far rescuers have recovered 102 people and one death has been confirmed. Survivors were taken aboard other vessels, including MV Haida, which assisted in rescuing at least one crew member, Ahmad Supandi. Relatives gathered at Trisakti and at Surabaya's Tanjung Perak Port seeking news of loved ones.
Family members described tense hours of waiting. Rusmilawati, who went to the port looking for eight relatives, said they had travelled back to Banjarmasin by ship after visiting Islamic tombs in Java. She said the family last heard via a WhatsApp status in which a relative wrote, "The waves are really frightening tonight. Or is this just what it's normally like travelling by ship, rocking and crashing against the waves?" Rusmilawati added, "Hopefully they're safe." At Tanjung Perak, a relative named Fredy said his youngest sibling, Stevie Manuhua, worked onboard as a keyboard player and that there had been no contact since the ship left Surabaya.
The incident follows a separate ferry fire off Madura island last month that killed five people. Indonesia's archipelago of more than 17,000 islands relies heavily on ferry transport, and the current operation will focus on locating the hundreds still missing and recovering any further survivors or victims.
Search teams said operations will continue as long as necessary, with crews combing the area and port authorities maintaining the operations post to handle information for families and coordinate further response activity.
