launched after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 ship, which was carrying 243 people, as it encountered bad weather, according to the search and rescue agency. The search for the remaining passengers is ongoing. The ferry was travelling from Surabaya to the South Kalimantan city of Banjarmasin and was last reported to be about 150 kilometers  (93 miles) south of Banjarmasin around 02:00 on Sunday (18:00 GMT on Saturday). Authorities received the initial distress report at 04:10 from the vessel's operator PT Virgo. The ship left Surabaya at 10:33 on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Banjarmasin on Sunday at 14:00, according to data from two maritime monitoring sites. A joint task force involving Indonesia's search and rescue agency, navy, maritime police and other parties has been set up for the rescue effort. Ships and a helicopter have been deployed to the scene, with 280 personnel taking part in the rescue operation. All vessels in the area of the Java Sea have been alerted to report any signs of passengers. An operations post to handle the accident was set up in the Trisakti Port area on Sunday morning. At a news conference at the port in the afternoon, Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the incident will be investigated by Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee. There are 213 passengers and 30 crew members on the 390 feet (119 meter) vessel. Of these, 130 people are still missing. (BBC)