One person has died and 102 people have been rescued from a distressed Indonesian passenger ferry in the Java Sea, an official said.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency launched an operation after losing contact with the Virgo Transport 8 ferry, which was carrying 243 people and encountered bad weather.
Searches for the remaining passengers are continuing.
The ferry was travelling from Surabaya to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan and was last reported about 150km south of Banjarmasin at around 02:00 local time on Sunday.
Search and rescue vessels and a helicopter have been deployed to the area, while other ships in the Java Sea have been instructed to report any signs of passengers.
The incident follows a separate Indonesian ferry fire off Madura island last month that killed five people.
Indonesia’s archipelago comprises more than 17,000 islands, and ferries are a common mode of transport.
