Rescue teams were still searching the Java Sea on Sunday for around 140 passengers and crew after the ferry Virgo Transport 8 overturned in bad weather, according to Indonesia's Search and Rescue Office. The ship was carrying 243 people on its manifest — 213 passengers and 30 crew — when it got into trouble overnight.

The vessel had left Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, at 10:33 a.m. on Saturday and was due in Banjarmasin, on the island of Borneo, at around 2 p.m. Sunday. Contact was lost at roughly 2 a.m., and the operator reported the emergency about two hours later. The captain had already radioed in distress, reporting waves up to three metres (10 feet) and saying the ship was listing before it capsized. Its last known position was about 148 kilometres (92 miles) from the pier at Banjarmasin.

By Sunday afternoon, 102 people had been rescued and one body recovered, with tugboats and other nearby vessels joining the operation. Authorities said they were mobilising everything available given the size of the ship's complement, while keeping a close eye on the weather.

The accident is the latest in a string of ferry disasters in the region. Just last month, a fire on a ferry near Bali forced the rescue of at least 211 people, with one dead and four missing; that came less than two weeks after another fire aboard the Mutiara Sentosa 2 off Java killed five. And four days before the Java Sea capsizing, a ferry fire in the Philippines killed at least 76 people.

Indonesia is made up of more than 17,000 islands, and ferries are the backbone of travel between them. But safety enforcement is often described as weak, and accidents happen with grim regularity. Manifests, too, are frequently inaccurate — officials noted the actual number on board often differs from the official count.

For travellers, the takeaway is practical rather than alarmist. Long ferry crossings in Indonesia, especially overnight ones in the rainy season, carry real weather risk. Check forecasts before booking, favour established operators with modern vessels, and know where life jackets are stowed on board. When a run can be replaced by a short flight, it's worth comparing the two.

Reporting by Associated Press journalists in Jakarta and Pontianam contributed; original coverage via Japan Today.