September 17, 2026 | 07:11 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Basarnas (the National Search and Rescue Agency) emphasized that ship owners are legally required to take responsibility for moving or raising the wreckage of a vessel involved in an accident if it obstructs navigation or active shipping lanes, in accordance with the Shipping Law.
Basarnas Head Mohammad Syafii stated that this regulation forms the basis for the government involving the owner in the case of the KM Virgo Transport 8, which met with an accident in the waters of Masalembo, Java Sea, starting Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.
"Basarnas is coordinating with agencies under the Ministry of Transportation, and we are also involving the owner to carry out the removal of the capsized KM Virgo," he said during a press conference regarding the fourth day of the search and rescue (SAR) operation for the KM Virgo Transport 8 at Trisakti Port, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Wednesday evening.
He noted that the KM Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 243 people while sailing from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin starting September 12, 2026. It reportedly encountered bad weather and lost contact before being found capsized in the waters of Masalembo, Java Sea, on September 13, 2026, at 02:00 WITA (Central Indonesian Time).
He explained that while the regulation allows owners up to 180 days to move or raise the wreckage, the government does not wish to wait until that deadline because the search for victims is still ongoing.
"Why wait up to 180 days? Since we want to find and evacuate victims as soon as possible, we are taking this action—in accordance with the Shipping Law—at the earliest opportunity," he said.
According to him, moving the wreckage is not solely within Basarnas's jurisdiction; therefore, the government is involving the ship owner and a team of experts capable of handling the removal process to support the search and victim evacuation operations.
"This collaboration is the result of an evaluation of the SAR operation aimed at utilizing all available resources—including the ship owner—so that the removal of the KM Virgo Transport 8 wreckage can support efforts to locate victims believed to still be inside the vessel," Syafii said. As of Wednesday (September 16) at 10:00 PM Central Indonesian Time (WITA), Basarnas confirmed that 114 victims had been found, comprising 108 survivors and six fatalities. To date, 129 people remain missing out of the 243 individuals listed on the KM Virgo Transport 8 manifest.
Read: Basarnas Prepares Virgo Transport 8 Salvage Operation with Hong Kong, US Experts
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