Joint Team Recovers Five Bodies From Virgo Transport 8 - Tempo.co English

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A joint diving team recovered the bodies of five victims of the KM Virgo Transport 8 passenger ship accident in the Java Sea on Monday, September 28, 2026, the 16th day of the search operation. The five victims were retrieved from the search site for identification and further processing.

Of the five victims, four were evacuated to the KRI Gusti Ngurah Rai ship. "Meanwhile, one victim was evacuated to the KN SAR Purworejo," said Head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Mohammad Syafii in a statement on Monday.

Four victims were subsequently evacuated to Banjarmasin via a Navy (TNI AL) HS 1331 helicopter, and one victim was transported via a Basarnas HR 3601 helicopter. All victims were taken to the Bhayangkara Hospital in Banjarmasin for identification purposes and further medical treatment.

Basarnas head said the successful location and evacuation of the five victims was the result of the cooperation of all search and rescue elements. "We will continue to conduct the search to the fullest extent by deploying all available resources," said Syafii.

With the discovery of these five victims, Basarnas has recorded a total of 179 people found—comprising 108 survivors and 71 deceased—while 64 individuals remain the subject of a search operation. According to the manifest for the KM Virgo Transport 8, the passengers and crew list totaled 243 people.