About 40 km (25 mi) off Mandalika Island, the ship sank during a violent storm in the Java Sea.

It was renamed Kurushima I in July 1996 and then Citra Mandala Satria in August 1996 and finally, Senopati Nusantara in January 2004.

According to the manifest, the ship was carrying 628 people including 57 crew,[2] but later press releases from government officials gave an inconsistent number of total passengers.

[3] According to one survivor's account, the ship rolled over and part of the hull was sticking out the water before it submerged into the sea.

[3] Immediate rescue efforts were made by local fishermen and rescue workers, and the Indonesian Navy sent six warships, one CASA plane, one Bell helicopter, two speedboats, one Nomad plane, one C-130 Hercules, one CN-235 airplane and two Bolco helicopters to assist in the search for survivors.

They were first thought to be survivors of Adam Air Flight 574 that crashed two days after in another storm, until it later turned out they were from MV Senopati Nusantara.

[8] The fourteen survivors, who survived for ten days by drinking rainwater and eating food supplies stored in the life raft, were then taken to Makassar, South Sulawesi.