Search for KM Nurul Salsa Extended, SAR Team Evacuates Another Male Body

The search operation for victims of the sunken KM Nurul Salsa in the waters of South Sulawesi has entered its ninth day following a three-day extension. A joint Search and Rescue (SAR) team successfully evacuated a male body found floating in the waters northeast of Matallang Island, Pangkajene and Islands Regency, on Thursday (23/7). This discovery adds to the death toll from the disaster, which now stands at three, while 15 other passengers remain missing. The body was spotted by local residents around 1:00 p.m. WITA, approximately 100 metres from the shoreline of Matallang Island. A Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) team from the KN SAR Pacitan, which was on duty in the area, immediately carried out the evacuation. Andi Sultan, Head of the Operations and Alert Section at the Makassar Search and Rescue Office (Basarnas), confirmed the recovery. ‘This afternoon, the RIB team from KN SAR Pacitan successfully evacuated a male body found northeast of Matallang Island, about 100 metres from the shore. The body has been evacuated and taken to the KN SAR Pacitan for further handling,’ said Andi Sultan. The joint SAR team is currently coordinating with all relevant parties to determine the handover location for the identification process. Andi Sultan explained that it has not yet been decided whether the body will be taken directly to Makassar or evacuated to Selayar first. The decision will be based on field coordination, considering operational aspects and the victim identification process. Identification is planned to be carried out by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team from the South Sulawesi Regional Police Medical and Health Division. The SAR team hopes the identity of the newly found body can be confirmed promptly to inform the family. KM Nurul Salsa was reported to have sunk in the early hours of Wednesday (15/7) around 5:00 a.m. WITA while sailing from Jampea Port to Benteng Port in the Selayar Islands Regency. The vessel experienced engine trouble in the waters west of Polassi Island. According to the latest verification of the passenger manifest, the total number of victims has been revised from 78 to 76 after two duplicate names were found and one person was confirmed to have cancelled their trip. With this data update, as of the ninth day of the search, 58 people have been found alive, 3 have died, and 15 remain missing. The joint SAR team has divided the search into three Search and Rescue Units (SRU). KN SAR Pacitan 102 and its RIB are sweeping the waters around Sapuka Island, while KN SAR Kamajaya 104 and its RIB are searching the waters around Aloang and Sapinggan Islands. The KLM Mattoangin vessel and local fishing boats have also been deployed to search uninhabited islands around the Sabalana Archipelago. The search is focused on the Sabalana Archipelago, where the victims are predicted to have drifted based on current analysis and previous operational evaluations. However, the team is facing challenges from high waves in the area, forcing personnel and equipment to move cautiously without reducing search intensity. Basarnas Makassar has also expanded its monitoring towards the waters of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) based on ocean current analysis indicating that objects may have drifted towards that region.