Survivor Recounts Terrifying Moments as Virgo Ship Tilts and Sinks

A man named Ahmad Saudi is one of the survivors of the Virgo Transport 8, which lost contact in the Java Sea waters while travelling from Surabaya to Banjarmasin. Ahmad recounted the moments he managed to save himself as the ship began to tilt.

Ahmad was evacuated to Banjarmasin using the MV Haida. He shared that he was asleep when the incident occurred, only to be woken by the sound of people running through the ship.

“The incident was very brief. I was sleeping on a chair, on a sofa. I woke up because people were running. I asked why, and they said the ship was tilting. I stood up, and it was indeed tilting,” Ahmad said, as reported by detikKalimantan on Sunday (13/9/2026).

Amidst the panic, Ahmad immediately gripped onto a window. The ship continued to tilt until Ahmad was forced to move to the upper deck. He attempted to stay on the ship for as long as possible until a rubber dinghy arrived.

“I immediately ran downstairs, went to the window, and held on until the ship tilted. After it tilted, I climbed to the top and waited until the ship sank. Only when the rubber boat appeared did I jump,” he explained.

Ahmad noted that many passengers remained inside the economy class cabins when the ship began to tilt. He suspects that many passengers, mostly women and children, may have been trapped, while the male passengers who were outside their cabins were able to escape immediately.

“But others, the women staying in the economy cabins, they might not have survived because the ship tilted too quickly. There was no warning alarm. There were no signs. Those who made it out were mostly drivers and men. Those in the cabins could not get out,” he said.