Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has halted diving operations to search for victims of the KM Virgo Transport 8, which entered their 21st day on Saturday.
This decision was made following an evaluation indicating that the condition of the shipwreck and the victims’ bodies made recovery via underwater operations increasingly unfeasible.
Citing RRI, Basarnas stated that during the initial days, it was still possible to recover victims from inside the vessel and bring them to the surface. However, the situation changed as the ship’s structure altered over the course of the search and rescue (SAR) operation.
“In the first few days, the condition of the victims recovered from the sunken vessel allowed them to float; thus, once extracted, they could be retrieved at the surface with the team’s coordination,” said Basarnas Head Mohammad Syafii during a press conference on the 21st day of the SAR operation, as reported by Antara in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Sunday.
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According to Syafii, the victims’ condition has now changed, as some bodies may disintegrate upon extraction from the wreckage. Consequently, diving operations were deemed no longer effective to continue under current conditions.
“While in previous days victims would rise to the surface on their own after being extracted, they now risk disintegrating upon removal from the ship. Therefore, continuing this underwater operation under current conditions is ineffective,” he stated.
Consequently, Basarnas hopes that the ship’s owner will soon undertake the salvage (lifting) of the KM Virgo Transport 8 hull. Raising the wreckage is considered crucial to creating an opportunity for recovery under more favorable conditions.
Syafii noted that the SAR team had exhausted all diving capabilities regarding the ship’s hull. Over the past three days, divers have not found any further victims within the wreckage.
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“We have maximized our diving capabilities regarding the ship’s hull. No further victims have been found in the last three days,” he said. However, he noted that there are still sections of the vessel inaccessible to divers, including the port side of the hull. The increasingly unstable condition of the wreckage also raised safety concerns, as it could endanger the diving personnel.
Suspending the dives does not mean the search and rescue (SAR) operation for KM Virgo Transport 8 has been completely halted. Following an evaluation on the 21st day, Basarnas decided to continue the search by sweeping areas where victims might have drifted.
Subsequent search efforts will focus on waters off South, Central, and West Kalimantan. This measure aims to locate victims who may have exited the vessel and been carried away by currents during the search operation. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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