22 Passengers Found Safe on KM Virgo Not Included in Ship's Manifest
A total of 22 passengers who survived the KM Virgo Transport 8 accident were not recorded in the ship’s manifest.
The Head of the Class I Banjarmasin Port Authority and Harbormaster (KSOP), Heri Purwanto, stated that officials are currently cross-checking the data of these 22 passengers to determine whether there was a recording error or an undocumented increase in the number of passengers.
“The existing data shows that 22 people are not present in the ship’s manifest. Therefore, we are currently attempting to reconcile the records,” said Heri during a press conference regarding the eighth day of the SAR operation following the KM Virgo Transport 8 accident at Trisakti Port, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Sunday (20/9) night.
According to the manifest received from Surabaya, the number of passengers on KM Virgo Transport 8 was recorded as 243. However, after officials documented the 108 survivors found, 22 names were discovered to be missing from the manifest.
Heri noted that an investigation into the cause of this discrepancy is ongoing. One possibility being confirmed is a difference in identity between the manifest data and the passenger data recorded in Banjarmasin.
“Usually, passengers might use nicknames. However, here, their names match their national ID cards (KTP). We are attempting to confirm this with our colleagues in Surabaya,” Heri added.
Meanwhile, as of the eighth day of the SAR operation on Sunday (20/9) at 22:00 WITA, Basarnas has recorded that 118 victims have been found. The breakdown includes 108 survivors and 10 fatalities.
Based on the manifest total of 243 people, 125 individuals remain missing.
KM Virgo Transport 8 was sailing from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, carrying 243 people according to the manifest. The vessel encountered bad weather and was reported to have lost contact on 13 September 2026, at approximately 02:00 WITA. On the same day, the ship was found capsized in the Masalembo waters, Java Sea.