Ship carrying 240 onboard loses contact in Java Sea near Indonesia

A passenger ship carrying 241 people has gone missing in the Java Sea after losing contact early Sunday while travelling from Indonesia’s East Java province to South Kalimantan, officials said.The Virgo Transport 8 was reported missing after its operator informed authorities that the vessel had encountered bad weather. The ship’s last known position was about 148 km (92 miles) from a pier in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.Search launched after contact lostThe vessel departed Surabaya at 10:13am local time on Saturday and was travelling towards Banjarmasin when contact was lost at around 2am on Sunday, according to Indonesia’s search and rescue agency.The Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin said it received the report about two hours after contact was lost.