Search launched after passenger ship carrying 240 loses contact in Indonesia

Indonesian rescuers launched a search operation on Sunday after losing contact with a passenger ship carrying 240 people that was travelling from East Java to South Kalimantan on Borneo island, officials said.

The Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province, said it received information that the Virgo Transport 8 had lost communication while sailing towards the city from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city in East Java province.

According to preliminary information, the vessel was last known to be in the Java Sea, around 148 kilometres from a pier in Banjarmasin.

No casualties were reported immediately.  (with inputs from Associated Press)