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Indonesian Ferry Capsizes in Java Sea Leaving Six Dead and Over 120 Missing

15 sources across 12 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • CNN Brasil Brazil · Centre · Rubens Menin (MRV)
  • Folha de S.Paulo Brazil · Centre · Grupo Folha (Frias family)
  • Le Monde France · Centre-left · Fonds pour l'independance de la presse
  • France 24 France · Centre · Public · France Medias Monde (French state holding)
  • Tempo English Indonesia · Centre-left · PT Tempo Inti Media
  • The Jakarta Post Indonesia · Centre-left · PT Bina Media Tenggara
  • Clarin Argentina · Centre-right · Grupo Clarin
  • La Tercera Chile · Centre-right · Copesa (Saieh family)
  • Deutsche Welle Germany · Centre · Public · German federal public-law corporation
  • Aftenposten Norway · Centre-right · Schibsted, Tinius Trust foundation
  • Dawn Pakistan · Centre-left · Pakistan Herald Publications (Haroon family)
  • Al Jazeera Qatar · Centre-left · State-affiliated · Qatari government funded
  • Neue Zuercher Zeitung Switzerland · Centre-right · Dispersed shareholders, no controlling stake
  • Bangkok Post Thailand · Centre · Post Publishing PCL
  • Associated Press United States · Centre · Non-profit news cooperative

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

At least six people died and approximately 130 others remain missing after the passenger ferry Virgo Transport 8 capsized in the Java Sea on Sunday. The vessel was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan when it encountered bad weather. According to the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), the ship was carrying 243 people, including 213 passengers and 30 crew members, as well as 89 vehicles. Rescue teams have reported that 107 to 115 people were saved from the water.

Search operations were hampered by rough seas with waves reaching up to 3 meters. I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office, stated that the captain had reported the ship was tilting before contact was lost around 2:00 a.m. local time. While some early reports from the rescue agency suggested the ship had sunk, Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi later clarified that helicopter surveillance showed the vessel had flipped over but remained afloat.

The ferry's last known position was in the Java Sea, with reports on the exact distance from Banjarmasin varying between 15 and 150 kilometers. Rescue efforts involved the Indonesian Navy, police, and multiple vessels and helicopters. Family members of the passengers gathered at the Trisakti port in Banjarmasin to await news.

Several reports noted that Indonesia's reliance on ferry transport across its 17,000 islands often leads to high accident rates due to inconsistent safety enforcement and unpredictable weather. Recent maritime incidents in the region include a ferry fire near Bali and the disappearance of a speedboat carrying journalists near Mount Anak Krakatau.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
These outlets emphasized the systemic safety failures and the frequency of maritime accidents in Indonesia.
Centre
These outlets focused on the official death toll and the logistical details of the rescue operation.
Centre-right
These outlets highlighted the distress of the families waiting at the port and provided specific technical details about the ship's age and origin.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.