Jakarta, ThedailyID — Indonesia’s joint search and rescue team has found a liferaft believed to belong to KM Virgo Transport 8, which overturned in the Java Sea.
The liferaft was found in the waters near Kuala Pembuang on Wednesday, September 16. Authorities said they were still verifying whether it came from the missing vessel.
“A liferaft believed to have come from the vessel was found in the waters of Kuala Pembuang,” Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office chief I Putu Sudayana said on Thursday, September 17.
Meanwhile, visual monitoring on Wednesday showed that the vessel was no longer visible from the sea surface at a distance of 1.1 nautical miles.
The Indonesian Navy then used active sonar to search underwater. The equipment detected an object believed to be the vessel at coordinates 04°31.667′ S – 114°00.245′ E.
The detected object had shifted about 500 yards southeast from its previous position, according to Sudayana.
On the fifth day of the SAR operation, authorities divided the search into two main sectors. The operation covered both aerial and maritime searches.
Helicopters from Basarnas, the Indonesian Police and the Navy searched an area of around 1,489 square nautical miles. Meanwhile, ships covered four main sectors spanning approximately 5,600 square nautical miles.
“Hundreds of personnel from various agencies are involved in this SAR operation. Various assets have also been deployed, including SAR vessels, Navy warships, helicopters, aircraft and search and evacuation equipment,” Sudayana said.
Weather conditions have remained one of the main challenges for the search team. Sudayana said conditions can change rapidly during the operation.
However, the weather on Thursday was partly cloudy, with waves reaching around 1 to 1.5 meters. Authorities said the conditions still allowed the search to continue.
KM Virgo Transport 8 lost contact in the Java Sea at around 2 a.m. WITA on Sunday, September 13. The vessel had been sailing from Surabaya to Banjarmasin after departing on Saturday, September 12.
The ship was reportedly carrying 243 people, including passengers and crew. As of Monday, September 14, 114 people had been found, while 129 remained missing, according to the source.
