Jakarta, ThedailyID — The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team has identified nine victims of the KM Virgo Transport 8 accident in the Masalembu waters of the Java Sea.
The nine bodies have been handed over to their families. As of Tuesday, September 22, authorities had found 18 people dead.
Nine other deceased victims remain in the identification process. The joint search and rescue operation is also continuing.
Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, Head of the Public Information Bureau at the National Police Public Relations Division, said the DVI team handles every deceased victim through an identification process.
The team compares information collected from families with the results of examinations on the bodies.
“Once the victim’s identity is confirmed, the victim is immediately handed over to the family,” Trunoyudo said in Jakarta on Tuesday, September 22.
He stressed that the team conducts the identification process carefully. This ensures that authorities confirm each identity before handing over the body.
“Ante-mortem data collected from families plays an important role in the reconciliation process,” Trunoyudo said.
He added that police continue to check and match the data carefully. The process aims to ensure that authorities confirm each victim’s identity before returning the body to the family.
Meanwhile, the joint SAR team continues searching for missing passengers. Three more bodies were found by a team of divers on Tuesday morning.
The team evacuated the three bodies for further identification. Authorities have not yet released their identities.
According to Basarnas data as of 11:30 a.m. WITA on Tuesday, 126 of the 243 people listed on the ship’s manifest had been found.
The figure includes 108 survivors and 18 deceased victims. Another 117 people remain missing.
KM Virgo Transport 8 lost contact in the Java Sea at around 2 a.m. WITA on Sunday, September 13. The vessel had departed Surabaya for Banjarmasin the previous day.
Authorities suspected that bad weather contributed to the incident. The ship was found overturned in the Java Sea on the same day.
