Two deadly ferry disasters in Indonesia and the Philippines have renewed scrutiny of maritime safety in Southeast Asia, where millions rely on inter-island transport despite recurring accidents, difficult weather, and persistent problems with vessel safety and passenger manifests.
At least six people were killed and 129 remained missing Sunday after the Virgo Transport 8 capsized in Indonesia’s Java Sea, according to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In the Philippines, authorities continued recovering bodies from the M/V June Aster, where a fire has killed at least 76 passengers and crew.
The Indonesian ferry, carrying 213 passengers and 30 crew, lost contact with its shipping company early Sunday after departing from Surabaya in East Java for Banjarmasin on Borneo island.
Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, Basarnas, said 108 people had been rescued. The vessel was last detected about 150 kilometers from its destination.
Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said helicopter surveillance showed the ferry had capsized but remained afloat.
“From the information we received, based on helicopter surveillance… the ship capsized but has not sunk. As of 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) it had not sunk yet, but it was capsized,” he said.
Local search and rescue chief I Putu Sudayana told AFP that the ship’s captain had reported the vessel was “tilting” before contact was lost.
Rescuers battled waves of up to 2.5 meters to reach the ferry. “It is extremely risky for vessels. Even our Basarnas vessel, which is 40 metres long, is at great risk,” Sudayana said.
Two helicopters joined the search, while Basarnas said the operation continued to “take into account weather conditions and wave patterns in the operational area.”
In the Philippines, rescuers recovered more bodies Sunday from the June Aster, days after an explosion in its hold was followed by a fire that swept through the roll-on, roll-off ferry.
Nearly all of the 76 confirmed dead were found aboard the grounded vessel. The cargo deck, engine room and other areas had yet to be fully searched.
“The focus right now is to retrieve (any additional bodies),” Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Noemie Cayabyab told reporters.
About 13 people remained missing, including the ship’s captain, although the total number of people aboard remained uncertain because of inaccurate passenger manifests.
Some families have told authorities that relatives were on the ferry despite not appearing in official records.
Thirty passengers, including two Chilean nationals, and 13 crew members were rescued, according to the coast guard.
Authorities said identifying many of the victims could take weeks or months because of the condition of the bodies.
“Most of the victims we’ve retrieved are badly burned,” Police Lt. Colonel Richard Mangalip, a victim identification specialist, told reporters.
“We are doing our best to collect any possible identifying marks,” he said, adding that the DNA process could take “weeks or months”.
The two incidents have drawn renewed attention to maritime safety in Indonesia and the Philippines, archipelagic countries that depend heavily on ferries and other vessels to connect thousands of islands.
Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands and relies heavily on boat connections for daily transport and tourism. AFP reported that marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the country, citing lax safety standards and unpredictable weather as the main reasons for such disasters.
The Philippines, with more than 7,000 islands, also has a long history of disasters involving inter-island ferries. AFP reported that many people rely on cheap and poorly regulated boats and ships despite regular accidents.
In January, a triple-decker ferry carrying more than 340 people sank off the southern Philippines, killing at least 52.
The cause of the June Aster fire remains under investigation.
Dindo Macalinao, a human resources official with Atienza Interisland Ferries, the vessel’s owner, said it was too early to assign blame.
He said it remained unclear “if this was negligence on the part of the company … or truly an incident that may have occurred beyond the company’s control.”
Indonesia, meanwhile, was also searching for a speedboat that went missing near Mount Anak Krakatau in Banten province. Eight people were aboard, including five journalists assigned to cover the volcano’s eruption.
At Banjarmasin port, relatives waited for information as rescuers brought survivors ashore.
