Three KMP Virgo Victims Evacuated from Ship Hull on Day 10, 117 People Still Missing

The joint SAR team successfully evacuated three more victims on the tenth day of the KMP Virgo Transport 8 operation on Tuesday (22/09/2026). The three victims were recovered from within the hull of the ship, which sank in the Java Sea waters, South Kalimantan.

Head of Basarnas, M. Syafii, stated that today’s SAR operation focused on the ship’s hull. The diving team conducting the search within the vessel discovered and evacuated the three victims of KM Virgo Transport 8 at approximately 09:55 WITA.

“The victims were found by divers from the Basarnas Special Group (BSG), the Indonesian Navy, and Jasalindo Salvage,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added that the three victims were subsequently evacuated to the KN SAR Pacitan. Following this, a Basarnas HR-3601 helicopter transported the victims to Banjarmasin Airbase, where they were handed over to Bhayangkara Hospital for identification purposes.

Syafii noted that with these discoveries, the total number of fatalities in the KMP Virgo Transport 8 accident has reached 18 people. Meanwhile, 117 individuals remain missing and are still being searched for.