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An Indonesian ferry carrying around 240 people has sunk, leaving at least 6 dead and 129 missing. High waves exceeding 2 meters were reported in the area at the time of the accident.

Reporter Kim Young-a has the details.

[Reporter]

Amid rough waves, a vessel is capsized with only its bow barely visible above the water.

The ferry capsized off the coast near Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, in the early hours of the 13th local time.

Carrying 243 passengers and crew members, the ship had departed from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, the previous morning and was heading toward Banjarmasin.

However, communication was lost around 2 a.m. after a final transmission reporting worsening weather conditions, and authorities received a distress call about two hours later.

[Faisal / Survivor: When the ship started to list, people climbed upward in panic, and then the vessel completely overturned. It didn't just lean to the side; it completely flipped upside down.]

Indonesian authorities stated that waves reached up to 2.5 meters at the time, and the ferry capsized immediately after the distress call.

Authorities have rescued 108 people and recovered 6 bodies so far.

Among those on board, 129 remain missing.

Authorities have mobilized around 620 rescue personnel, 17 vessels, and aircraft to focus all efforts on searching for the missing.

[Mohammad Syafi / Head of Indonesia National Search and Rescue Agency: To deal with the situation where the vessel is completely capsized, we plan to deploy not only National Search and Rescue Agency personnel but also specialized professional rescue workers.]

Comprising 17,000 islands, Indonesia relies heavily on boats and ships as primary means of transportation.

However, due to lax safety regulations, overloading is common, and frequent bad weather often leads to marine accidents.

In 2018, a ferry carrying around 200 people sank in a volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra, resulting in 167 deaths.

(Video Editing: Kim Byung-jik)