Basarnas recovers three more bodies from KM Virgo accident
Banjarmasin (ANTARA) - Basarnas and joint teams have once again discovered and evacuated three bodies of victims from the KM Virgo Transport 8 accident from within the ship’s hull in the Java Sea on Friday, after weather conditions supported diving operations at a depth of 24 metres.
“One male victim was evacuated at 12:28 WITA, and subsequently, the Indonesian Navy found two other victims at 13:10 WITA at the same depth,” said the Director of Operations at Basarnas, Rear Admiral TNI Yudhi Bramastyo Nur Sasongko, during a press conference regarding the progress of the SAR operation on the sixth day of the KM Virgo Transport 8 accident, at Trisakti Port, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Friday night.
He stated that the discovery of the three bodies was due to favourable weather conditions on both the surface and underwater, following previously severe weather. On this day, wave heights and wind speeds were within normal conditions according to the safety standards of the SAR team.
“The three victims were found trapped inside a room within the ship, so the diving team had to break the glass to extract the bodies from the interior of the vessel,” he said.
The diving operation involved two teams from the Indonesian Navy, consisting of 10 personnel from the Navy SEALs (Kopaska) and 10 personnel from the Underwater Rescue Service (Dislambair) of the Koarmada II Indonesian Navy, to support the evacuation of victims from the ship’s hull.
With the discovery of these three bodies, as of the sixth day of the SAR operation, Friday at 22:00 WITA, Basarnas confirmed that 117 victims have been found, comprising 108 survivors and nine fatalities. Meanwhile, 126 people remain missing from the total of 243 individuals listed on the KM Virgo Transport 8 manifest.
KM Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 243 people when it set sail from Surabaya, East Java, towards Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on 12 September 2026.
The vessel was reported to have encountered bad weather and lost contact on 13 September 2026 at approximately 02:00 WITA, before being found later that same day capsized in the Masalembo waters, Java Sea.