Search continues for missing passengers following ferry sinking in East Java

Search operations are still ongoing for an undetermined number of people who have gone missing after a ferry caught fire and sank off East Java, Indonesia, on Thursday, August 22.

The incident began at around 20:45 local time as the Ro-Pax Santika Nusantara was sailing from Surabaya to the city of Banjarmasin on Borneo.

Some Good Samaritan fishing boats and a vessel operated by the Basarnas national search and rescue (SAR) agency arrived on-scene later that evening to evacuate any survivors.

A total of 143 people were rescued during two days of SAR operations. However, local authorities believe that there are passengers and crew who remain unaccounted for.

A spokesman for the Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency told reporters that the number of rescued passengers had exceeded the total listed on the vessel’s manifest.