By Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil
JAKARTA, Sept 16 (Bernama) -- Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has expressed his condolences to families affected by the Virgo Transport 8 ferry incident in the Java Sea and pledged continued efforts to determine the cause of the incident through an investigation.
He said the investigation would also help authorities improve mitigation efforts and take appropriate measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“At this time, we always remember our brothers and sisters who have been affected by the tragedy...We always pray that the families left behind are given strength and resilience,” he said in his remarks before inaugurating the Kelapa Gading-Manggarai LRT line at Manggarai Station in Jakarta, which was streamed live.
The Virgo Transport 8, carrying 243 people, lost contact in waters off Masalembo in the Java Sea at about 2 am local time on Sunday while sailing from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
The vessel was later found capsized in the Java Sea, triggering a large-scale search and rescue operation for its passengers and crew.
As of 10 pm on Tuesday, 114 people had been found, comprising 108 survivors and six fatalities, while 129 remained missing.
Meanwhile, Antara News Agency reported that the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) on Wednesday expanded the search area to 6,120 square nautical miles as the SAR operation entered its fourth day, with more than 1,000 joint personnel and 23 air and sea assets deployed.
-- BERNAMA