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The Indonesian ferry Virgo Transport 8 capsized in rough weather in the Java Sea early on 13 September 2026, with 243 people on board (213 passengers, 30 crew).
It was sailing from Surabaya (East Java) to Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan, on Borneo) and overturned in the Masalembo waters, about 148 km from Banjarmasin.
By 14 September, 108 people had been rescued, six bodies recovered and 129 were still missing.
The Java Sea is a shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, lying between Java to the south and Borneo to the north.
The Java Sea lies between Java and Borneo. It connects west to the Indian Ocean through the Sunda Strait (between Java and Sumatra), north to the South China Sea through the Karimata Strait, and northeast to the Celebes Sea through the Makassar Strait. The ferry capsized in the Masalembo waters between Surabaya and Banjarmasin.
Indonesia's lead agency for search and rescue, leading the ferry search
Prelims > World Geography > Seas, straits & places in news
The shallow continental shelf of Southeast Asia that underlies the Java Sea, southern South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand.
A shallow sea lying over a continental shelf, as the Java Sea does.