Prabowo Orders Probe Into Virgo Transport 8 as 129 Remain Missing on Day 4

On September 16, Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto vowed to investigate the sinking of the Virgo Transport 8, as search teams in the central Java Sea continued looking for 129 people still missing four days after the ferry went down.

Prabowo made the statement during the inauguration of Jakarta's new LRT line at Manggarai Station. He said the government would probe the cause and strengthen safety measures to prevent similar disasters. The National Transportation Safety Committee is running a parallel inquiry.

Rescue crews had reached 114 people by the night of September 15: 108 survivors and six confirmed dead. That left 129 of the 243 passengers and crew still unaccounted for. The Virgo Transport 8 lost contact at around 2:00 AM on September 13 in Masalembo waters, midway between Surabaya and Banjarmasin. The ferry was listing badly.

According to LiCAS News, this is the third major Java Sea disaster in six weeks. A fire on the KMP Mutiara Sentosa 2 on August 2 killed five people. On August 21, the tanker MT Elisabet went down and five crew members went missing. Indonesia is a country of more than 17,000 islands that depends on sea travel for movement between communities.

Earlier coverage reported the discovery of the wreck at a depth of 30 meters. For background on following passenger vessels, see our guide to finding passenger ships on MarineRadar.

Update, September 17: Basarnas brought in US and Hong Kong experts to help salvage Virgo Transport 8 as rough weather continued to obstruct the underwater search.