Update on Virgo Ship Lost Contact in Java Sea: 140 People Still Missing

Basarnas has stated that a total of 140 people are still being searched for following the loss of contact with the Virgo Transport 8 vessel in the Java Sea waters, since Sunday (13/9) morning.

The Head of the Class A Search and Rescue Office in Banjarmasin, I Putu Sudayana, stated that according to preliminary data, there were a total of 243 people on board the KM Virgo Transport 8.

He noted that from that total, 103 people have been successfully evacuated. Specifically, 16 people (including one fatality) were evacuated via TB Mauhaw IX, followed by 38 people via TB TCP and 49 people via MV Haida.

“Meanwhile, 140 others are still being searched for, and data is still being confirmed by the team on the ground,” he said in a written statement on Sunday (13/9).

He explained that based on initial information received, the loss of contact incident, caused by bad weather, is estimated to have occurred at 02:00 WITA.

Sudayana stated that for this operation, his office has deployed aerial searches via Helicopter HR-3601, as well as sea searches using KN SAR Laksamana 241, KN SAR 249 Permadi, KRI Nala, and KN Kunyit.

“The joint SAR team continues to carry out intensive searches by expanding the search area around the location of the incident,” explained Sudaryana.

“We are optimising all available resources in this operation. The safety of the victims is the top priority in every execution of the SAR operation,” he added.