Indonesia rescue agency recovers another victim from capsized ship, authorities say

JAKARTA: Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Sunday (Sep 20) it had recovered one more victim from the wreck of a passenger ship that capsized and sank in the Java Sea last weekend.

The passenger ship Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 243 people, including 30 crew members, when it capsized in bad weather early on Sep 13 during a voyage from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.

"The victim was found by divers during a search inside the ship's hull," the agency said, adding that the victim will be airlifted out for identification.

The search and evacuation operation will be continued using divers and also air support, the agency said.

As of Saturday, authorities said nine people had been confirmed dead and more than 100 people had survived, leaving 126 unaccounted for.

The recovery operation for the sunken ship was extended by another week due to the number of missing people and because the salvage operation to right the ship is expected to take time, authorities said on Saturday.