The official death toll from the passenger ship Virgo Transport 8 that capsized in Indonesia’s Java Sea rose to 20 on Wednesday, September 23, according to the National Rescue Agency. Mohammad Syafii, head of the National Rescue Agency, stated that the count increased from a previous total of 10 confirmed deaths as rescue teams widened their underwater search operations.
Search and Rescue Operations in the Java Sea
The Virgo Transport 8 ferry was carrying 243 people, including 30 crew members and an unknown number of vehicles, when it capsized in severe weather early on September 13. The vessel was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan when the accident occurred. Coast guard and Navy personnel recovered eight bodies from inside the sunken ship over a three-day period, alongside two bodies washed ashore in Central Kalimantan province approximately 253 kilometers (157.21 miles) away from the accident site, according to Mohammad Syafii. As of Wednesday, rescue teams registered 108 survivors while 115 people remained missing. Operations were previously hampered by strong currents, prompting the agency to utilize a remotely operated vehicle to guide divers.
Underwater Recovery Efforts Inside Ship Cabins
Divers concentrated Wednesday’s operations on searching the ship’s cabins for trapped passengers. I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin rescue agency, noted that divers successfully broke cabin windows on Tuesday but faced retrieval obstacles due to murky water and strong currents. “Our underwater search is focused on the ship’s hull. That is where we are concentrating because we have found many passengers trapped inside the cabins,” Putu stated. Rescuers plan to shift their focus to the vehicles on the ferry once cabin recoveries conclude, though authorities warned that vehicles piled on top of each other pose significant risks to the diving team.
Timeline and Salvage Operations
Indonesian authorities extended search and rescue operations through Sunday of the following week due to the high number of missing passengers and the time required for salvage efforts. Officials confirmed that operations to right the capsized ship were underway, though the vessel remained overturned on Wednesday. Rescue teams recovered five bodies on Monday, four on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday morning, according to the National Rescue Agency.
