Antara News·Indonesia·Sunday, September 20, 2026 at 06:12 AM

Basarnas deploys 12 elite divers for KM Virgo underwater search

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Tumpal Andani, Resinta Sulistiyandari

Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has assigned 12 of its experienced divers to continue searching for victims missing from the Virgo Transport 8 ferry accident, with underwater operations scheduled to resume on Sunday.

Basarnas Director of Operations Commodore Yudhi Bramantyo Nur Sasongko explained that the 12 divers were selected from various diving units within the SAR team following a personnel reshuffle and rotation. They do not represent the total number of divers involved in the overall SAR operation.

“The divers prepared to continue the underwater operations have experience handling past accidents, such as the Lion Air and Sriwijaya Air crash SAR operations a few years ago,” Sasongko said at Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin on Saturday (September 19) evening.

According to Sasongko, the rotation was not related to a shortage of personnel. Some vessels supporting the diving operation had to return to their home bases for crew changes and other assignments.

“Basarnas is also preparing replacement units to maintain underwater search capabilities,” he added.

He said the number of divers was reduced because personnel from KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai and KRI Pulau Fani had returned to their home bases. A replacement vessel, KRI Nala, is scheduled to arrive on Sunday, the eighth day of the SAR operation, to take over their duties.

Basarnas has deployed tugboat TB Jaya Dragon to support the 12 divers during the underwater operation, supplementing the 20 Indonesian Navy divers who conducted the search the previous day.

The team is also awaiting further instructions from the salvage team on the next steps in recovering the vessel’s hull.

“The hope is that these personnel can reinforce the work carried out by the Navy divers yesterday. We are also waiting for the salvage team’s decision on the next steps in the wreck recovery operation,” Sasongko said.

He also expressed hope that the favorable weather conditions observed over the past few days would continue, allowing the dive team to conduct the underwater operation effectively and achieve results comparable to those of the Navy divers who conducted the search earlier.

“We hope the dive team can conduct an effective search, so the SAR operation can continue making progress despite adjustments to the vessels and personnel involved,” Sasongko said.

As of Saturday night, Basarnas confirmed that 117 victims had been accounted for, comprising 108 survivors and nine fatalities. Meanwhile, 126 people remained missing out of the 243 individuals listed on the ferry’s manifest.

Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 243 people when it departed from Surabaya, East Java, for Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on September 12, 2026.

The vessel reportedly encountered bad weather and lost contact at around 2 a.m. on September 13, 2026, before being found later that day in a capsized condition in the waters of Masalembo in the Java Sea.

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