Indonesia, Sept. 13 -- Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) launched a major search operation for the Virgo Transport 8 passenger ship carrying 243 people after it lost contact in the Java Sea early Sunday.

I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office, said the vessel lost contact around 2 a.m. local time after encountering severe weather while sailing from Surabaya to Banjarmasin.

The vessel's last recorded position was about 80 nautical miles from the Basirih SAR Pier in Banjarmasin, Sudayana told a news conference on Sunday morning.

Authorities received the initial distress report at 4:10 a.m. local time from Yoel Rihi, general manager of the vessel's operator, PT Virgo. The ship left Surabay...