Three Bodies of KM Virgo Victims Found, 117 Passengers Still Missing

Basarnas, alongside a joint team, has discovered three more bodies of victims from the KM Virgo Transport 8 accident in the Masalembo waters, Java Sea, on the tenth day of the search and rescue (SAR) operation, Tuesday (22/9) morning.

The Head of the Class A SAR Office Banjarmasin, I Putu Sudayana, acting as the SAR Mission Coordinator, stated that the three bodies were successfully located by the joint team and immediately evacuated to the KN SAR Pacitan.

“It is true that three bodies were found by the joint diving team from the Basarnas Special Group (BSCT), the Indonesian Navy, and PT Jasalindo. The gender of the victims is awaiting the identification process,” said Putu when confirmed by Antara in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Tuesday.

Following the evacuation from within the shipwreck on the seabed, the three bodies will be transported via the Basarnas-owned HR 3601 helicopter to Sjamsudin Noor Airbase in Banjarbaru.

From Sjamsudin Noor Airbase, the three bodies will be taken to the Bhayangkara Hospital in Banjarmasin for further handling and identification purposes.

With the discovery of these three bodies, as of Tuesday at 11:30 WITA, Basarnas confirmed that 126 victims have been found, consisting of 108 survivors and 18 fatalities, while 117 victims remain missing from the total of 243 people listed on the KM Virgo Transport 8 manifest.