Indonesia searches for 129 people missing after ferry capsizes

BANJARMASIN, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities intensified on Monday a search for dozens of people missing after a ferry overturned in bad weather in the Java Sea previous day.

At least six passengers were killed and 129 people are still missing.

The Virgo Transport 8 was carrying more than 240 people when its captain issued a distress call, saying the ship was listing in rough seas with waves of up to three meters (10 feet), while traveling from Surabaya in East Java province to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island.

Contact was lost with the ferry at about 2 a.m. Sunday, and about two hours later authorities received infomration that the vessel had overturned in the Java Sea’s Masalembo waters, about 148 kilometers (92 miles) from Banjarmasin.

Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday showed an overturned ferry floating in choppy waters during a helicopter search operation.

On Monday, 17 ships and aircraft were deployed for the search carrying about 622 personnel deployed from the military, police and other agencies, said Mohammad Syafii, the National Search and Rescue Agency chief.

He said authorities were also deploying specialized underwater teams and navy-operated underwater drones to strengthen search efforts and speed up the evacuation of victims.

“We remain hopeful of finding more survivors," Syafii told a video briefing.

Search teams, assisted by nearby tugboats and other passing vessels, rescued 108 people and recovered six bodies on Sunday.

The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 243 people — 213 passengers and 30 crew members — although it is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest. The vessel was also transporting 89 vehicles.

Distraught relatives gathered at a command center in Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port and also at a port in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, awaiting word on family members believed to be aboard the ferry and still unaccounted for.

The 119-meter (390-foot) Virgo Transport 8 ferry was built in Japan in 1987 and operated there until last year, when it was sold to Indonesia.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, in part due to weak enforcement of safety standards.

In this photo taken with a smartphone, rescuers wheels a survivor of a sinking ferry on a stretcher upon arrival at a port in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Iman Satria)

In this aerial image taken from video released by Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), the bottom of passenger ferry Virgo Transport 8 is seen above the water after it overturned in bad weather in the Java Sea, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (BASARNAS via AP)

People check the passenger manifest of Virgo Transport 8 passenger ferry which overturned in bad weather in the Java Sea, at the rescuers' command center in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Iman Satria)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Monday it conducted a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones that it claimed demonstrated “huge destructive power."

The test including firing different types of weapons simultaneously, likely aimed at acquiring the ability to overwhelm South Korean and U.S. air defenses.

Experts say North Korea is not slowing its testing activities even after U.S. President Donald Trump recently scaled back a military exercise with South Korea in an apparent effort to revive diplomacy with leader Kim Jong Un.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday's drill was meant to practice the operations of an integrated weapons control system. South Korea’s military earlier said it detected short-range ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area on Saturday morning.

After observing the firing drill, North Korean Marshal Pak Jong Chon said the drill would “improve the level of specialization to bring down the enemy’s armed forces organizationally and structurally once an order is issued.” He added that the weapons systems mobilized demonstrated “the huge destructive power of concentrated fire,” according to KCNA.

It’s extremely difficult to independently verify North Korean claims on its weapons tests. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said several missiles fired Saturday each flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles) toward North Korea’s eastern waters. The flight distances signal that the weapons are designed to strike targets in South Korea including U.S. military bases.

The firing drill, which included North Korea’s first public ballistic missile launches in about three weeks, came a day after the United States, South Korea and Japan wrapped up a trilateral military exercise that North Korea views as a provocation.

In August, Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” a major bilateral military exercise with South Korea, citing what he called a good relationship with Kim. But North Korea rebuffed Trump’s overture, saying that shortening the drill didn't change its “provocative, aggressive nature.” The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise eventually ended six days earlier than originally scheduled.

Buoyed by his advancing nuclear arsenal and deepened ties with Russia and China, experts say Kim likely thinks he has greater leverage in possible diplomacy with the U.S. than when he first met Trump in 2018-2019.

Kim said earlier this year that he could return to talks if the U.S. drops its “hostile policy” against his country and respects what he calls the North’s status as a nuclear state.

A TV screen shows a file photo of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)