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Satellite images show extent of damage to major Saudi pipeline, amid global oil supply fears

Saudi Arabia will run out of oil ⁠stocks for export if it ⁠doesn’t restart a drone-damaged major pipeline to the Red Sea within days, leading to the loss of up to 4% of global supply, Saudi oil buyers and traders said. Satellite photos released on Sunday night appeared to show a pumping station on the key 1,200km (745-mile) Saudi east-west pipeline charred and badly damaged, after drone attacks on Friday. A further decline in oil flow from Saudi Arabia, the world largest oil exporter, will worsen the ⁠global supply crunch, which has already pushed global fuel prices to record highs and spurred inflation around the world. The news comes as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces have launched attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia and captured the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab strait, expanding their control of the narrow waterway. On Sunday, the international oil benchmark, Brent crude, rose more than 3.4% to $108 per barrel, a level not seen since May. Since the drone attacks forced the shutdown of the pipeline, Riyadh has yet to provide full details about the extent of the damage or how long the route will stay offline. The Saudis blamed the attack on drones launched by militants in Iraq. Sources that spoke to Reuters gave varying estimates, ‌with one saying the damage could take ‌up to six weeks to repair, while another said it could be fixed sooner and could resume pumping partially while ‌repairs are ongoing. Saudi Arabia’s government media office and energy ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. For the past six months, the pipeline running through the desert across the Arabian Peninsula has spared Saudi Arabia from the brunt of the impact of the wartime shutdown of the strait of Hormuz that has crippled exports from its neighbours. The world’s biggest exporter has used the pipeline to reroute around 4m barrels per day – about 4% of global supply – to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. But with the ‌pipeline out of service, Yanbu now has stocks to maintain exports for just five to seven days, according to three industry sources familiar with Saudi exports. Saudi Arabia also has stocks to supply customers for several days from Egypt’s ports of Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea and Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean, a fourth source said. Stocks are not full and will ultimately run out without the east-west pipeline resuming operations, the four sources said. As the price of oil price of climbed, hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in the near term faded when Oman’s foreign minister, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, posted late Sunday that a regional meeting scheduled for Monday had been postponed “in the interests of consensus”. Iranian officials had said they would attend that gathering with Gulf Arab states to present ⁠an agreement with Oman on governing shipping routes through the strait of Hormuz. The strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees. The disruptions to crude has driven up prices across refined derivatives such as petrol and diesel. Diesel prices in the US hit a record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average. The Houthis are targeting Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping as part of a recently declared blockade. Recent advances by the Iran-aligned group puts them closer to a major US base in Djibouti. The spiralling conflict in the Middle East is now in its seventh month, after US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February and Donald Trump declared the war would finished in four to six weeks. With Reuters and Associated Press

Ukraine war briefing: Poland calls for ‘double’ support to Kyiv after Russian train attack

Poland and Ukraine have denounced Russian strikes close to the Polish border as an “escalation” in the war after a train was targeted while former British prime minister Boris Johnson and ex-CIA director David Petraeus were at a border station nearby. The escalation should lead to allies to “double” their support for Ukraine, Poland’s foreign minister said in Kyiv. “This was just a few hundred metres from the Polish border, this affects the safety of my countrymen,” Radoslaw Sikorski said. Polish prime minister Donald Tusk chaired an emergency meeting in Warsaw after the strikes, warning he expected Russia to escalate the war “in the coming weeks”. He added: “We cannot exclude that the escalation will also affect our territory … I hope not.” Poland and Ukraine said the Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just 2km from the Polish border, reporting no casualties. Shortly beforehand a diplomatic train was at Yagodyn station including Johnson and former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt as well as security advisers from several EU member states, while former CIA director David Petraeus was aboard another train at the station when the attack occurred, the Ukrzaliznytsia rail operator said. It did not say how far the officials were from the train struck. Zelenskyy said Moscow had “deliberately” struck the locomotive. “It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every day, give their lives, and do not allow the aggression to expand,” the Ukrainian president said. Ukrainian Railways said Johnson and Petraeus may have been the target, report Amy Hawkins and Charlotte Higgins. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the attack was “Putin’s terror knocking directly on the doors of the EU and Nato”. Donald Trump has called on Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks were causing a global shortage. “Mr Zelenskyy has to do one thing – he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump told reporters in Ireland after diesel prices in the US hit a record high on Friday. “We spoke to Mr Zelenskyy about it. There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel, because that’s hurting the world.” Kyiv says Russia’s oil industry funds and fuels Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Trump sought to tie Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries to rising oil prices, saying it was these attacks and not America’s ongoing conflict with Iran that were responsible for price rises. “This isn’t done by the Middle East, this is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine,” the US president said. According to a report published on Friday by the International Energy Agency, net exports of diesel and oil from the Gulf countries in August stood at “just over a quarter” of what they were before the war on Iran began in February. “Disruptions to Russia’s refining system and a near-halt to product exports following intensified Ukrainian attacks have compounded these losses,” the agency wrote. The Kremlin said negotiations with Ukraine and the US on the war could take place in October. “We do not rule out such a possibility – we are talking about the foreseeable future,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, cited by Russia’s Ria and Tass news agencies. Zelenskyy said separately he would be willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami in December, but Peskov said that was “impossible”, repeating Moscow’s demand that a meeting could only take place in the Russian capital. Putin has repeatedly rejected offers for face-to-face talks with the Ukrainian president. Zelenskyy has imposed sanctions on a former press secretary, ⁠accusing her and nine others of spreading Russian propaganda and of supporting Russia’s aggressive policy ⁠towards Ukraine. Yuliia Mendel, who ⁠worked with Zelenskyy from 2019 to 2021, before Russia’s invasion – responded with a message on Facebook saying it ⁠was unconstitutional to impose sanctions on Ukrainian citizens. She did not comment on the specific accusations.

Centre-left bloc leads Swedish elections – as it happened

Swedish opposition left-leaning parties held a lead of just a single seat on Monday morning, with 91% votes counted (1:43), as the result remained too close to call the election (1:04). Opposition leader Magdalena Andersson said Sweden would get a new government if the projected result gets confirmed when all votes are counted, as projections suggest a one-mandate win for the left-leaning opposition bloc over Ulf Kristersson’s centre-right bloc (00:04, 00:11). But Kristersson urged patience until all votes are counted and suggested exploring an alternative majority, while casting doubt over the ability of the opposition parties to agree on a common programme (00:42). Projections by the Swedish election authority and Swedens’s public broadcaster SVT suggest the opposition bloc will have 175 seats in the new parliament, one more than the governing centre-right bloc at 174 (21:48, 23:25). Key party leaders conceded that the margin between the two parties is too small to determine the result of the election tonight, with all ballots not expected to be counted before Wednesday (23:47, 23:53, 00:04, 00:18, 00:28). The far-right anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats appeared to lose support comparing to 2022, with Kristersson’s Moderates expected to take over as the second largest party in the country (20:15, 22:05, 22:11, 00:28). Given the results so far, the government formation process could take weeks if not months. Thank you for joining me on Europe Live tonight. If you have any comments, suggestions, or tips, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Swedish election: centre-left parties lead by just a single seat with most votes counted

With most of the votes counted, Sweden’s national election remained too close to call on Sunday night, with left-wing parties holding a lead of just a single seat according to a partial tally by the election authority. Earlier in the night, exit polls suggested that the country was on course for a brand new left-leaning government. But as the votes were counted, it was apparent it could take days for the outcome to become clear. With 80% of votes counted, there was just one seat between the left and right blocs. The left-leaning opposition parties, led by Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson, had 175 and the rightwing parties, led by the Moderates prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, had 174. At 10:30pm local time, broadcaster SVT predicted there were only 20,000 votes between the blocs. The election authority said a preliminary vote count may not be ready until Thursday. Kristersson, the incumbent prime minister, said the voters had had their say, but “we still don’t have a final result.” “Which government will lead Sweden in the coming years is still an open question, and we will do everything we can to ensure that this government will be the very best for our country,” Kristersson told supporters. The Social Democrats remain Sweden’s biggest party, but look to have had their worst result in decades. Speaking just before midnight local time, Andersson addressed supporters to say that every vote must be counted. “We will have to wait for the final election results. But my message is clear: we Social Democrats will always be ready to take responsibility for the result. It seems like it will be very even,” she said. “But right now we are leading. If it stands, then Sweden will have a new government. But we have to wait for the final result, so let me end where I began, in democracy, the finest thing we have.” It was also a bad night for the far-right Sweden Democrats, who are hoping to enter government for the first time. They slipped from the country’s second biggest party to third. The deputy prime minister, Ebba Busch, of the Christian Democrats, told her supporters that Sweden would be going “to bed with uncertainty” and may have to wait until Wednesday for a result. But she remained adamant that the ruling right-leaning coalition should remain in government. “This is a very clear message for the only unified government alternative in this election campaign,” she said in an upbeat speech. “This will be a real nail-biter, this could be uncertain all the way until Wednesday.” It comes after an unusually heated and polarised campaign punctuated by personal attacks between leaders, accusations of misinformation and Maga-inspired ads. Polls suggested an extremely tight race, with one showing just 0.3 percentage points between the left and right blocs. Polling stations across the country opened at 8am local time (7am UK time). Enthusiasm among voters appeared to be high. A record 3.6 million voters took part in early voting and there were reports of long queues at some polling stations. Whatever the result, coalition talks are expected to take weeks if not months. The right-leaning bloc, made up of what are known as the Tidö parties, has been in power for four years. It is formed of the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, with a supporting role for SD, Sweden’s second biggest party. The opposition left-leaning bloc is formed of Sweden’s biggest party, the Social Democrats, the Centre party, the Green party and the Left party. The rightwing coalition broke a longstanding taboo in 2022 by going into partnership with SD, which has neo-Nazi roots. SD has attempted to make itself more palatable to the mainstream by toning down its overtly racist rhetoric, while arguing that immigration is responsible for Sweden’s crime problems. After four years in a supporting role for the Moderates-run coalition government, however, during which it has shifted much of the Swedish establishment to the right and had a strong influence on policies, SD’s approach to the election has been more brazen. If the right-leaning coalition wins, the party has been promised a prominent role in the government, including key ministerial positions. SD’s campaign slogan of “make Sweden Sweden again” was reminiscent of Donald Trump’s “make America great again”. Its controversial ads on buses – with messages including: “Do you miss Mogadishu? The repatriation grant will help you get home” – were taken down after drivers refused to work in vehicles displaying them. The party leader, Jimmie Åkesson, was accused of sexism after asking the Social Democrats’ leader why she was so angry during a TV debate. Another leading SD figure, Gustav Gellerbrant, came under national scrutiny after an investigation by the publication Expo connected his partner to Russian state actors and the spread of Russian propaganda. His partner, who is Russian, works as a civil servant for SD in parliament. Gellerbrant said in response that it was “isolated information” intended to raise suspicion about her Russian origins and has since gone on leave. Andersson, who voted on Sunday morning in the Stockholm suburb of Nacka, said the campaign had been “a tale of two sides”. “There have been a lot of lies and bickering, but at the same time there are so many sensible people out there across the country,” she told SVT. “The focus is on winning and setting a new direction for Sweden.” Abba’s Benny Andersson showed his support for the Social Democrats’ leader by performing a reworked version of Mamma Mia to supporters at the party’s headquarters, replacing the words “Mamma Mia” with “Magdalena”. Kristersson, had put considerable focus in the final days of campaigning on the penalty discount applied to criminals convicted of various offences. He accused the Social Democrat leader of not standing up for female rape victims. In response, she accused him of weaponising men’s violence against women. After voting in the town of Strängnäs, west of the capital, Kristersson said “momentum is on our side”. Despite dropping in the latest polls, he said the role of his party was to be “team leaders … uniting for the best of the country”. Voters say the most important election issues are healthcare, law and order, immigration and the economy. But much of the election debate has been focused on personal finance, said Radio Sweden’s senior political correspondent, Fredrik Furtenbach. “The parties have tried to outdo each other with promises of more money. It has been a sort of auction.”

Train carrying Boris Johnson and ex-CIA chief may have been targeted in Russian strike, officials say

A train carrying Boris Johnson and the former CIA chief David Petraeus may have been the target of a Russian drone strike that hit a train engine near the Poland-Ukraine border, according to Ukrainian Railways. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, described the attack as “Putin’s terror knocking directly on the doors of the EU and Nato”. Overnight attacks across Ukraine involving more than 450 Russian drones and missiles killed at least six people and injured more than 40. Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted 405 drones and four missiles. Western Ukraine, which is typically quieter than Kyiv or the eastern frontline zones, was particularly badly hit. The strikes prompted air-raid warnings in Poland, which shares a border with western Ukraine. Ukrainian and Polish authorities said a lorry less than 1km from the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing between the two countries was also hit. Katerina Sergatskova, the director of Daily Humanity, an organisation that provides training to people working in high-risk environments, was travelling on a Warsaw-bound train and witnessed the attack. She said passengers were told to evacuate at about 9am as the train approached the Polish border having already been told to disembark for two hours in the middle of the night. “At this point, the mood was different, we were asked to move very fast,” she said. “Then I heard the first drone. “Seeing and hearing Shahed [drones] just a few hundred metres from the border is a very unpleasant experience.” No casualties were reported on the train. A British economist who preferred not to be named, travelling on a night train from Kyiv towards Chelm in Poland, also witnessed the attack. “We spent 10 hours at the border and were evacuated three times. On the third evacuation a missile came over and totalled a locomotive in front of our train.” Railway officials instructed the “grimly focused” passengers to hide in bushes by a lake, said the economist, calling the Ukrainian response “timely and disciplined”. They “gave us good warning of the evacuation and had a plan, which everyone followed”. “The conductor said when we boarded that there was a high risk that we would be evacuated during the journey. The lady and her eight-year-old son who were in my compartment said they had been travelling back and forth every month to Kyiv from Warsaw since 2022 and they had never been evacuated, or the train attacked, while travelling the route. This is clearly an escalation by Putin and the Russians.” Ukrainian Railways, which operates the line, said a train carrying several security advisers from European countries, as well as Johnson, the former British prime minister, and the former CIA chief Petraeus, had passed through the border crossing shortly before the drone strike. “It is quite likely that the target of this Russian drone could also have been the diplomatic train, which departed from the station earlier than planned as part of the real-time review of train schedules due to the constant threat of Russian strikes,” the rail company said. Johnson wrote on X: “I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning. What we can say for sure is that this is the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day – even on civilian railways.” Three people were killed in the eastern Donetsk region, and a 71-year-old woman was killed in the southern Mykolaiv region. Sybiha said the Russian strikes were “not just a continuation of its attacks on our state borders”. “This is Putin’s terror knocking directly on the doors of the EU and Nato. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” he wrote on X. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote on Telegram: “Ukrainians are fighting every day to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe, giving their lives and preventing the aggression from expanding.” The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, warned on Sunday that intensifying Russian attacks in Ukraine in the coming weeks could affect Poland, as he chaired an emergency meeting after the Russian drone attacks near the border. “The coming weeks and months will be a period of very intensive actions on the Russian side,” he said, adding Poland “cannot rule out that this escalation will also affect our territory”. He added that Poland had been tipped off by its security services, and by intelligence agencies from allied countries, that an attack such as this was likely. “We knew that the Russian plan would include an attempt to disrupt, paralyse, and perhaps even destroy Ukrainian border crossings,” Tusk said. Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, who visited Kyiv this week, said on X after Sunday morning’s attack: “Putin is escalating.” The Polish interior minister, Marcin Kierwiński, said: “We treat these events with the utmost seriousness. The situation is being monitored continuously. Russia is the enemy of the free world.” Russia claimed it struck “railway infrastructure” in western Ukraine used to “transport military cargo” from Europe. “Strikes have continued on railway infrastructure in the western regions of Ukraine, which are used to transport military cargo from European countries,” Moscow’s defence ministry said in a statement. Ukraine and Russia have increased attacks on critical infrastructure in each other’s countries as long-range drones and missiles take the war away from the frontlines. The US president, Donald Trump, said on Sunday that Zelenskyy should “stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia” because it was causing shortages. “Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said, adding that shortages were caused by the Russia-Ukraine war rather than the US war in the Middle East. In Lithuania, authorities briefly closed the airport in Vilnius, the capital, after a perceived drone sighting. Nato scrambled at least one fighter jet in response to the alert, which turned out to be a flock of birds. The airport reopened within 40 minutes, according to Lithuanian authorities.

The far right’s rise is a wake-up call for Europe | Letters

Rafael Behr is right to warn that far-right parties, Maga ideology and Kremlin influence threaten Europe’s liberal democracies (European democracies are running out of time to turn away from the abyss, 9 September). But he overlooks the role of the liberal centre itself in creating the conditions for their rise. While Thatcher, Reagan and their successors weakened trade unions and workers’ bargaining power, subsequent centre-left governments largely accepted these changes rather than reversing them. Under the banner of the “third way”, they expanded labour market insecurity, embraced financialisation and allowed private interests to penetrate ever deeper into public services. Social and economic inequality soared. From the anti-globalisation movement and post-2008 anti-austerity protests to more recent pro-Palestinian mobilisations, the liberal centre has relied increasingly on policing, surveillance and legal restrictions to contain political opposition. Decades of economic insecurity, shrinking democratic participation and declining faith in established institutions have created fertile ground for the far right. Kremlin money and Maga-style politics can only thrive because the centre has hollowed out the social and political foundations of liberal democracy. The Alternative für Deutschland’s success should be a wake-up call. History suggests the centre will hit the snooze button. Benjamin Selwyn Professor of international relations and international development, University of Sussex • Jörg Lau rightly identifies the shattering of Germany’s postwar consensus in Saxony-Anhalt, but framing this as a sudden rupture obliterates decades of the political establishment’s structural rot (Friedrich Merz is now on borrowed time. But that’s not why the AfD’s triumph is seismic, theguardian.com, 8 September). Germany’s crisis began with suppressing authentic reckoning. In the immediate postwar era, former Nazi party members were allowed to dominate state institutions. This continued until the 1970s. Willy Brandt, the “Historikerstreit”, the countrywide discussion of the series Holocaust and Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s Willing Executioners were short glimmers of real change. Then the institutionalised remembrance culture emerged. It was top-down – a state-directed ritual to appease European partners that reinforced the German “nanny state” mentality. In eastern states like Saxony-Anhalt, this top-down moral framework was forced on a population thrust into the post-1989 market shock. Now, with an ageing demographic and economic stagnation straining the social safety net, this abandonment is coming due. The AfD feeds on these unhealed wounds, exploiting anger over stale ritualised politics and, once again, channelling economic angst into xenophobic nationalism. Merz is a product of decades of missed opportunities. But the AfD is not an alien shock to the system. Mainstream parties built the void the far right now occupies. If mainstream political Berlin continues to ignore their systemic neglect, the collapse will be complete. Dr Michael Esser Los Angeles, California, US • The Public Order Act 1936 put a stop to the quasi-military demonstrations by Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts. Is there any reason why it cannot be used to put an end to thuggish demonstrations by intimidating, black-clothed and balaclava-wearing protesters on the streets of Dover and Portsmouth? William Ward London • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Pregnant woman among more than 10 killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza

A pregnant Palestinian woman died on Saturday from injuries sustained after being shot in the head by Israeli forces south of Khan Younis, according to her family and medical workers, as strikes across Gaza killed at least 10 people in 48 hours. The woman, named as Iman Shalouf, 27, who was nearly eight months pregnant, was sitting inside her family’s tent in the al-Mawasi area when Israeli gunfire struck her, according to paramedics and witnesses. ‘‘We heard the sound of gunfire while I was praying,’’ Wathfa abu Mashi, Shalouf’s mother-in-law, said in a video interview with Anadolu. “My daughter asked me, ‘Where is Iman?’ I told her she was in her tent. She went to check on her and found her covered in blood after she was hit by a bullet.” Shalouf’s husband, Ismail abu Mashi, said “Where is the ceasefire they keep talking about? There is no such thing. There is killing every day. People are dying here every day.” Shalouf was rushed to Nasser hospital, where doctors initially detected her unborn baby’s heartbeat, but she and her unborn baby died a few hours later. According to relatives, Shalouf had already chosen the name Ayoub for the baby, who was due in November. Relatives and community members gathered at the hospital to hold funeral prayers for Shalouf and her child before carrying their bodies for burial in Khan Younis. They were buried side by side. Contacted by the Guardian, the Israel Defense Forces said they were looking into the incident. Despite the ceasefire agreement reached in October 2025, violence and the killing of Palestinians continue on a daily basis. The health ministry in Gaza said 10 Palestinians had been killed and 56 wounded in Israeli attacks over the previous 48 hours, amid artillery shelling and gunfire in several areas of northern, central and southern Gaza. Four members of the same family – Momen Ahmed, his wife, Haneen Saleh, and their daughters Lana, 12, and Bana, eight – were killed when their home in Beit Lahiya was struck on Thursday night, according to the ministry. Six other Palestinians were reported killed in Khan Younis and Gaza City on Friday, including a man who died of wounds sustained in an earlier attack. Several other Palestinians were injured in attacks across Gaza. On Friday, two people were reportedly seriously injured in an attack in Beit Lahiya, while three people including a woman six months pregnant and a child were wounded by gunfire in the same city. On Saturday, nine people were injured when a displaced people’s tent in al-Mawasi was shelled, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. On Sunday, two Palestinians were killed and several others injured when a vehicle was struck in Tel al-Hawa in Gaza City, according to the health ministry. The attack also injured people on a passing bus carrying women and children. On 28 August, Unicef said at least four children had been reported killed in the preceding five days and many others wounded, including children who sustained life-changing injuries. On 2 September, it said three other children had reportedly been killed and at least five others injured in the preceding 24 hours, bringing the number of children reportedly killed between 23 August and 2 September to seven. “Airstrikes by Israeli forces continue killing and wounding Palestinians,” Médecins Sans Frontières said. “Between September 6 and 9, Israeli forces issued 18 so-called evacuation orders and struck a building less than 250ft from an MSF clinic.” The humanitarian situation remains severe. According to the UN’s humanitarian office, “most of Gaza’s 2.1 million are approaching the rainy season in overcrowded displacement sites, at risk of flooding and disease, while efforts to help them prepare are constrained by funding shortfalls and access restrictions”. On 31 August, a temporary halt to desalination in Israel reduced the water available to about a million people in Gaza who rely on the Israeli grid. Several electricity generators at hospitals across the Gaza Strip have stopped working because of shortages of spare parts and fuel, the territory’s health ministry has said. According to the ministry, 1,369 Palestinians have been killed and 4,627 wounded since the fragile ceasefire took effect on 11 October 2025. Since Israel’s war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, at least 73,783 Palestinians have been killed and 174,738 wounded, according to the ministry.

At least six dead and 130 missing after Indonesian ferry capsizes, officials say

Rescue workers in Indonesia said at least six people had died and 130 others were missing on Sunday after a ferry sailing between the islands of Java and Borneo capsized in bad weather. Basarnas, Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, said 107 people had been rescued from the Virgo ⁠Transport 8 vessel, which set sail on Saturday with 243 people onboard, including 30 crew members, from ‌the East Java ‌city of Surabaya. The ferry’s last position before it lost contact at 2am on Sunday was in the Java Sea, about 150km (90 miles) from its destination, the city of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, said Heri Purwanto, the head of the Banjarmasin port authority. Indonesia’s transport minister, Dudy Purwagandhi, said the vessel had capsized. “From the information we received, based on helicopter surveillance … the ship capsized but has not sunk. As of 3pm [local time] it had not sunk yet, but it was capsized,” he said at a news conference in Banjarmasin. The local search and rescue chief, I Putu Sudayana, said rescuers were battling waves of up to 2.5 metres (8.2ft) to reach the ferry. “It is extremely risky for vessels. Even our Basarnas vessel, which is 40 metres long, is at great risk,” he said. A Basarnas helicopter had joined the operation, he said, adding that evacuees had been transported ⁠using a number of different ships and some of them would be taken to an East Java port. Paramedics and ambulances were on standby in Banjarmasin, where dozens of relatives and friends of passengers checked a whiteboard on which the names of the rescued were being updated. Jenah, 26, told Agence France-Presse she had come to the command post for information about her older brother. “I am saddened and very shocked. Until now, I haven’t received any more information,” she said. “He was travelling alone. I hope he survives. I couldn’t contact him since last night.” Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries, with sea routes more affordable and readily available than air travel. However, safety standards are not always rigorously enforced, resulting in a relatively high accident rate. On Monday, a speedboat carrying eight people, including five journalists working for local and international news agencies, went missing near a volcano, Mount Anak Krakatau, in Lampung province. Last month, a fire onboard a ferry killed one person and left five others missing, while 211 were rescued, in the Lombok strait off the island of Bali. The ferry had been heading from Bali to the island of Lombok when it ran into trouble in the early hours of 12 August. In July, a ferry transporting more than 70 people sank while sailing near Selayar, a small island south of Sulawesi. Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report