The Virgo Transport 8, carrying 243 passengers and crew, lost contact with its shipping company early on Sunday after departing from Surabaya in East Java.

“We can confirm that the total number of evacuated passengers is 103,” local search and rescue chief I Putu Sudayana told reporters in the port city of Banjarmasin, where the vessel was headed.

Sudayana confirmed that one passenger had died. Rescuers faced waves up to 2.5 metres high as they attempted to reach the ferry.

“It is extremely risky for vessels. Even our Basarnas vessel, which is 40 metres long, is in great danger,” he said, referring to Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency.

Sudayana earlier told AFP that the ferry’s captain had reported the vessel was “tilting” before contact was lost.

The ferry’s last known position was detected in the Java Sea, approximately 150 kilometres from its destination.

Marine accidents are relatively frequent in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that relies heavily on maritime transport for daily travel and tourism. Poor safety standards and unpredictable weather are among the main factors behind such incidents.

The latest incident follows several other maritime emergencies in the country.

On Monday, a speedboat carrying eight people, including five journalists from local and international news agencies, went missing near Mount Anak Krakatau in Banten province, with a search operation ongoing.

The journalists had been sent to cover an eruption of the volcano, which disrupted operations at Jakarta’s main airport and several other airports.

Last month, a ferry fire killed one person and left five others missing, while 211 people were rescued in the Lombok Strait off Indonesia’s Bali island. The vessel was travelling from Bali to Lombok when it encountered difficulties in the early hours of August 12.

In July, another ferry carrying more than 70 people sank while sailing near Selayar, a small island south of Sulawesi.