Basarnas Keeps Helicopter on Standby in Virgo 8 Search

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) in Indonesia has positioned an HR 36012 helicopter in the area surrounding the KM Virgo Transport 8 shipwreck for potential emergency evacuations if additional victims are discovered during the ongoing search efforts. I Putu Sudayana, the head of the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office and the mission coordinator for the SAR operation, made this announcement on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.

The helicopter will be stationed offshore and on standby to assist with evacuations from the expansive search area, should the need arise. As of the seventh day of the search, maritime teams have divided their operation into four sectors, covering approximately 6,200 square nautical miles each, with the helicopter focusing primarily on one sector for evacuation support.

On Saturday, search teams discovered an empty life raft while investigating the site of the KM Virgo Transport 8 accident using the KN SAR Wisanggeni 236 vessel. In total, nine liferafts have been found so far, with six of them washed ashore in Seruyan, Central Kalimantan, and the remaining three discovered near the wreck in the Java Sea, according to Sudayana.

As of 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, Basarnas has confirmed 117 victims, including 108 survivors and nine fatalities, from the 243 people listed on the KM Virgo Transport 8 manifest. The vessel was transporting 243 individuals from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, when it departed on September 12, 2026. The KM Virgo Transport 8 encountered adverse weather conditions and lost contact around 2 a.m. local time on September 13 before eventually being located capsized in the Masalembo waters of the Java Sea.