Basarnas: 123 Victims of Virgo Transport 8 Ship Still Missing

Banjarmasin, VIVA – Basarnas is still searching for 123 victims of the Virgo Transport 8 ship who remain missing as of the ninth day of search and rescue (SAR) operations, after Basarnas Special Group (BSG) divers discovered two deceased victims inside the sunken vessel in the Java Sea this morning.

The Head of Basarnas, Mohammad Syafii, stated that the two male victims were found at 09:04 WITA and 09:13 WITA, respectively, while the BSG diving team was conducting underwater search and diving operations.

After the two victims were evacuated from the sunken hull, they were transported via Helicopter HR 3601 to Syamsudin Noor Airbase in Banjarbaru at 11:20 WITA, to be handed over to the relevant authorities for identification and further medical handling at the hospital.

“We continue to exert our maximum effort to find and evacuate the victims. The discovery of two victims today is part of the hard work of all combined SAR elements. We ensure that every victim found is immediately evacuated and handled according to procedure,” Syafii said in a written statement on Monday, 21 September 2026.

Syafii noted that the search and evacuation process is being carried out to the fullest extent, deploying available personnel and resources from both sea and air fleets to locate the 123 victims still being searched for.

With the discovery of these two victims, as of Monday at 12:00 WITA, Basarnas confirmed that 120 victims have been found, consisting of 108 survivors and 12 fatalities, while 123 victims remain missing out of a total of 243 people listed on the KM Virgo Transport 8 manifest.