Fact Check: Was This Video Recorded Aboard the Virgo 8 Before It Sank?
Fact Check - Viral footage claimed to show the Virgo 8 before sinking actually shows passengers aboard the KMP Marina Bay.
On September 15, 2026, a video surfaced on social media claiming to show the KMP Virgo Transport 8 shortly before it sank. The footage displayed the vessel's deck being inundated with seawater as passengers rushed to don life jackets. The video purportedly captured the moment by a passenger on board the ship as it was sailing from Surabaya to Banjarmasin, lost in the Masalembo waters of the Java Sea.
However, a fact-check by Tempo found that the video was actually recorded aboard a different vessel, not the KMP Virgo Transport 8. The footage was taken by a Facebook user named Asdianto Tariwoba on August 13, 2026, while the ship in question, the KMP Marina Bay, was sailing from Manado Port to Biaro and Tagulandang. The video showed the KMP Marina Bay being battered by severe weather before water entered its deck, with all passengers already wearing life jackets. The ship successfully anchored at Tagulandang Port that day.
The KMP Virgo Transport 8, on the other hand, departed from Surabaya on September 12, 2026, heading for Banjarmasin. It encountered trouble near Masalembu in the Java Sea on September 13, sinking around 02:00 WITA (Central Indonesian Time). The vessel carried 243 people, of which 108 were rescued and six were confirmed dead. Numerous others are still missing, and a search operation is ongoing.
Written by urgent.news from Tempo.co English's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
