Death toll from capsized ship in Indonesia rises to 20 as search continues for 115 missing passengers

The official death toll from a passenger ship that capsized and sank in Indonesia’s Java Sea rose to 20 on Wednesday, up from the previous 10, with rescuers expecting to find more bodies as the ongoing underwater search widens, officials said. The Virgo Transport 8 ferry was carrying 243 people, including 30 crew members, as well as an unknown number of vehicles, when it capsized in bad weather early on September 13 during a voyage from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. Coast guard and Navy personnel recovered eight bodies from inside the ship over the past three days, and also found two bodies that had been washed ashore in Central Kalimantan province around 253 km (157.21 miles) from the location of the accident, head of National Rescue Agency Mohammad Syafii said. Ferry and passenger boat accidents in Southeast Asia INDONESIA, September 2026 – Six people died and 129 people were still missing after a passenger ship with 243 people aboard capsized in the Java Sea, which covers the waters between Indonesia’s four most-populated islands of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Borneo. The Java Sea has been the site of a number of major air and maritime accidents, including the sinking of the Tampomas II in 1981, when around 600 people died according to some estimates, and a plane crash in 2007 that killed more than 100 people. PHILIPPINES, September 2026 – At least 76 people died when a ferry carrying more than 130 people caught fire on its way from Manila to Coron in Palawan. INDONESIA, August 2026 – One person died and more than 200 people were rescued after a ferry travelling from the tourist island ​of Bali caught fire on August 12 in waters off the island of ‌Lombok. INDONESIA, August 2026 – Five people died and 233 passengers and crew were rescued from a ferry that caught fire off Madura island. VIETNAM, July 2026 – At least 15 Indian tourists died when a boat capsized off Vietnam’s southern island of Phu Quoc. PHILIPPINES, January 2026 – At least 18 people died when a vessel carrying more than 300 people capsized en route to the southern province of Sulu. INDONESIA, December 2025 – Spanish soccer coach Fernando Martin and three of his children died after their boat capsized in the Padar Island Strait, near a popular tourist spot. As of Wednesday, the total death toll stood at 20, with 115 people still missing and 108 survivors, he said. Rescuers found five bodies on Monday, four on Tuesday and one on Wednesday morning, Syafii added. Wednesday’s search would focus on looking for more bodies in the ship’s cabins, said I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin rescue agency. Divers managed to break the windows of the cabins on Tuesday but could not enter due to murky water and strong currents, making it impossible to retrieve bodies that had already been spotted. “Our underwater search is focused on the ship’s hull. That is where we are concentrating because we have found many passengers trapped inside the cabins,” he said. After that, if possible, rescuers will shift the search to the vehicles on the ferry, but it could prove challenging, with many appearing to be piled on top of each other. “This poses risks to the diving team,” Putu said. “If it is feasible and safe, we will carry out the search.” Search and rescue operations have been extended until Sunday next week. Authorities said efforts to right the ship were underway, but it remained capsizedon Wednesday.