Virgo Transport 8 Wreck Found 30 Meters Deep; 130 Still Missing

Indonesian search crews found the wreck of Virgo Transport 8 on Monday. The ferry had overturned in the Java Sea two days earlier, carrying 243 people.

Basarnas confirmed the ferry is resting at 30 meters depth. Six people have died. Rescue teams pulled 107 survivors from the water since Saturday. One hundred and thirty remain missing.

The 119-meter ferry capsized in the early hours of September 13 while sailing from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. A commercial tanker, Mauhau, picked up the VHF distress call and recovered 16 people before dedicated rescue crews arrived.

High waves hampered the third day of the search. Indonesian authorities were weighing whether to raise the wreck or leave it on the seabed.

The Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office received notice that the ferry was missing at around 4:10 AM local time, roughly two hours after contact was lost. The ferry was built in Japan in 1987 and operated by PT Virgo Karya Shipping.

Searchers focused on a surface sweep on Monday despite difficult conditions. When Virgo Transport 8 first went missing with 243 people aboard, early rescues had brought more than 100 survivors to safety within hours.

In a September 16 update, Prabowo ordered a probe into the Virgo Transport 8 sinking, with 129 people still missing and 108 survivors reported.