September 21, 2026 | 12:29 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Basarnas (the National Search and Rescue Agency) is still searching for 123 victims of the KM Virgo Transport 8—who remain missing as of Monday, the ninth day of the search and rescue (SAR) operation—after divers from the Basarnas Special Group (BSG) discovered two deceased victims inside the sunken vessel in the Java Sea earlier that morning.
Basarnas Head Mohammad Syafii stated in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Monday that the two male victims were found at 09:04 WITA (Central Indonesian Time) and 09:13 WITA, respectively, while the BSG dive team was conducting underwater search and diving operations.
After being recovered from the sunken hull, the two victims were airlifted by an HR 3601 helicopter to Syamsudin Noor Air Force Base in Banjarbaru at 11:20 WITA. They were subsequently handed over to the relevant authorities for identification and further processing at a hospital.
"We continue to make every possible effort to locate and recover the victims. The discovery of two victims today is the result of the hard work of all elements of the joint SAR team. We ensure that every victim found is immediately recovered and handled according to procedure," Syafii said.
Syafii stated that the search and recovery operation is proceeding at full capacity, utilizing available personnel and assets—including both sea and air units—to locate the 123 victims who remain missing.
With the discovery of these two victims, as of 12:00 WITA on Monday, Basarnas confirmed that a total of 120 victims have been found—comprising 108 survivors and 12 deceased individuals—while 123 victims remain the subject of the ongoing search out of the 243 people listed on the KM Virgo Transport 8 manifest.
Read: Divers Enter Wreck of Capsized Virgo Ferry in Java Sea
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