Indonesian divers face high-risk challenges to reach capsized ferry

JAKARTA: Beneath the surface of the eastern Java Sea, fast currents, water pressure and the hull design of a capsized ferry have thwarted several attempts by divers to reach 129 people missing since Sunday (Sep 13), Indonesian officials say.

The high-risk challenges facing rescuers five days after the Virgo Transport 8 went down in bad weather are adding to the anguish for distraught friends and family. Six people were found dead and 108 rescued on the day of the accident, a toll that has not changed since.

The 3,800-tonne ship, which capsized some 800km east-northeast of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, was making what should have been a 20-hour voyage from Surabaya in East Java province to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.

About 60 divers from Indonesia's navy and a unit of the national rescue agency have been unable to reach the submerged wreck, said Arianto Ardi, head of operations for the agency's Banjarmasin office. 

They are among 1,100 personnel working 12-hour shifts on 17 ships and 5 helicopters and other aircraft.

CURRENTS, WAVES, HIGH HULL COMPLICATE EFFORTS

Despite the time that the ship has been capsized, the mission remains a rescue operation, given the possibility that survivors may be trapped in watertight compartments.

Currents at the site were initially measured at nearly 7 knots, far above the 1.5-knot safety limit for diving, the agency said.

They have since eased to between 1.8 and 2 knots, allowing navy divers to approach the ship on Thursday during about eight hours in the water, said Yudhi Bramantyo Nur Sasongko, head of operations at the national rescue agency.

Also complicating the effort have been waves of up to 2.5m and strong winds near the vessel.

The ship drifted about 1.8 nautical miles after the accident, officials have said. It has now sunk and is on the seabed, officials said late on Thursday. The Java Sea is between 40m and 50m deep, according to government data.

Part of the difficulty of getting into the ship is its enclosed design, Arianto told Reuters in a telephone interview. The 119m Virgo Transport 8 is a "roll-on/roll-off" vessel built to carry vehicles as well as passengers between islands in Indonesia's sprawling archipelago.

"Generally, ships like this have high hulls on the right and left side," he said, unlike passenger ships with rows of windows from the second deck up.

The structure would have made evacuation difficult and now limits how rescuers, once they reach the vessel, can get inside, he said, estimating the ship likely has two or three decks, with vehicles below and passengers above.

ATTEMPT TO RIGHT SHIP AS RESCUE OPERATION CONTINUES

A potential further complication is that the company that owns the vessel, PT Virgo Karya Shipping, began trying to right the ship on Friday in a legally mandated salvage operation, while the rescue operation continues.

Accessing the ferry would be only the first hurdle, said Marcellus Jayawibawa, a maritime expert with the alumni association of Indonesia's Resilience Agency. Once inside, divers must navigate flooded, unfamiliar compartments in near-zero visibility.

"When they dive, they will enter compartments that they are obviously unfamiliar with," Marcellus said. "This could make it difficult for the diver to get out quickly in an emergency."

A particular danger would be potential air pockets in sealed compartments, he said.

"If the cabin is watertight and contains air inside while outside there is seawater, then when the cabin's door is opened, seawater will immediately try to fill the space", with the pressure surge endangering the diver and any survivors, Marcellus said.

Even as some friends and family have begun to lose hope, the search by law must continue for at least a week.

"We are talking about a human life," Marcellus said. "We must think that as low as the probability is, the possibility is they could still be there."