Authorities were preparing to right a capsized passenger ferry that went down in the Java Sea last week, a navy official said, with dozens of people still missing.
The Virgo Transport 8 carried 213 passengers and 30 crew when it lost contact with its shipping company after departing from Indonesia’s second city of Surabaya on Java island on Sunday, headed for Banjarmasin on Borneo island.
At least six people have died and 129 are missing, according to the national search and rescue agency, Basarnas. Some of the victims are feared trapped inside the vessel, which is now submerged.
An expert team has been brought in to assist the operation to right the ferry, local navy commander Galih Nurna Putra told reporters on Friday.
“The salvage operation is underway,” Galih said, adding that “there was an observation yesterday”.
The head of the Banjarmasin search and rescue agency, I Putu Sudayana, said teams would be able to resume the recovery of bodies once the vessel is righted.
Before that process is completed, divers face risks if they try to enter the capsized ship, he said.
“We understand the psychological condition of the victims’ families, but please also understand the situation faced by the joint search and rescue team, because they must also pay attention to (operational) safety.”
The capsized vessel has drifted from its original position and sunk farther into the sea, from an initial depth of 21m (69 feet) to 29m, Basarnas operation director Yudhi Bramantyo said on Thursday.
Beneath the surface of the eastern Java Sea, fast currents, water pressure and the hull design of a capsized ferry have thwarted several attempts by divers to reach 129 people missing since Sunday, Indonesian officials say.
The high-risk challenges facing rescuers five days after the vessel went down in bad weather are adding to the anguish for distraught friends and family.
Six people were found dead and 108 rescued on the day of the accident, a toll that has not changed since.
The 4,277-tonne ship, which capsized some 800km east-northeast of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, was making what should have been a 20-hour voyage from Surabaya in East Java province to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.
About 60 divers from Indonesia’s navy and a unit of the national rescue agency had been unable to reach the submerged wreck, said Arianto Ardi, head of operations for the agency’s Banjarmasin office.
They were among 1,100 personnel working 12-hour shifts on 17 ships and five helicopters and other aircraft.
Also complicating the effort have been waves of up to 2.5m and strong winds near the vessel.
The ship drifted about 1.8 nautical miles after the accident, officials have said.
It has now sunk and is on the seabed, officials said late on Thursday.
The Java Sea is between 40 and 50m deep, according to government data.
Part of the difficulty of getting into the ship is its enclosed design, Arianto said in a telephone interview.
The 119-metre Virgo Transport 8 is a “roll-on/roll-off” vessel built to carry vehicles as well as passengers between islands in Indonesia’s sprawling archipelago. — Reuters/AFP
