Ferry sunk in Indonesia: 129 people missing for five days

**Ferry sunken in Indonesia: 129 people missing for five days**

The search for those missing from the Indonesian passenger ferry that met with disaster in the Java Sea on the night of September 13 has been ongoing for five days. The incident occurred on an approximately 20-hour sea route connecting the islands of Java and Borneo.

The captain of the "Virgo Transport 8" ferry, which had departed from the city of Surabaya, sent a distress signal indicating that the vessel was listing amidst waves rising up to 3 meters. Communication was lost around two o'clock on Sunday night. Two hours later, it became known that the vessel had capsized in waters approximately 148 kilometers away from its destination, Banjarmasin.

At the same time, the agency reminds that in Indonesia, it is common for the actual number of passengers to differ from the manifest.

As a result of the disaster, six people died, 108 people survived, and 129 people are still missing. Reuters writes that these figures have not changed since Sunday.

The 119-meter ferry was built in Japan in 1987. It served in the Land of the Rising Sun until last year, after which it was sold to its current operator in Indonesia, the company PT Virgo C.SH.

**A tragedy that occurred in a matter of minutes**

The stories of the survivors show how quickly the disaster occurred. Speaking to the Indonesian state news agency, crew member Akmal said he noticed no warning signs:

"The ship sank very quickly, in less than five minutes."

According to him, he only heard the alarm after reaching a safe distance from the ship.

When Rizki Apriansyah, who worked as a waiter on the ferry, was woken up by his friends at around one in the morning, the ship was already listing at nearly 30 degrees. Rizki also said that no warning alarm was sounded. He and his friends clung to a large gas cylinder floating in the water and waited about 10 hours for rescue.