Basarnas, Navy deploy 34 divers on day 10 of Virgo SAR operation - ANTARA News Jawa Timur

Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and the Indonesian Navy deploy 34 professional divers on Tuesday to locate the remaining 120 victims trapped inside the hull of Virgo Transport 8, which sank in the Java Sea.

"KRI Nala from the 2nd Fleet Command in Surabaya will rejoin the operation, arriving at the site on Tuesday morning, bringing a team of 22 divers," Head of the Banjarmasin Class A SAR Office and the SAR Mission Coordinator I Putu Sudayana said in a press conference on Monday (Sept 21).

The diving team will now have 34 personnel in total, comprising 22 Indonesian Navy divers and 12 Basarnas divers who had been on standby to assist in evacuating victims from the sunken vessel.

"We will maximize the operation of these teams to carry out the evacuation process from the sunken vessel," Sudayana added.

He added that the focus of the 10th day's operation remains on the vessel's hull to evacuate victims who may still be trapped inside the ship, while weather conditions are expected to improve and support the teams' movements in the field.

"In line with the forecast provided by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) during the operation evaluation, wave heights on Tuesday are expected to be low, ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 meters," he said.

Sudayana hopes the current wave conditions will support the evacuation, although the agency would prefer calmer seas to allow the divers to work at maximum efficiency.

"We are grateful that the weather is improving. Hopefully, the teams working in the field can perform optimally during the evacuation process," he said.

As of 10 p.m. Monday, Basarnas confirmed that 123 victims had been found, including 108 survivors and 15 fatalities.

Meanwhile, the search continued for 120 others listed on the KM Virgo Transport 8 manifest, which recorded a total of 243 people.

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