Basarnas chief Mohammad Syafii said here on Monday that the search will likely be called off, with personnel returning to routine activities, if a field assessment finds the search to be no longer effective.
After being extended by seven days—from July 15, 2025, to July 21—the search period has officially ended, he informed. SAR operations are carried out normatively for one week, he said.
The search period could be extended under special considerations, but if the SAR operations are determined to no longer be effective, the search may be ended, he reaffirmed.
Basarnas is not an administrative body. It is a government agency with branches operating all over the country to deal with emergencies, he added.
As reported earlier, Basarnas handed over the search mission coordination for the passengers of the sunken ferry to its Surabaya office.
The Surabaya SAR agency continued the search for the remaining 16 missing passengers of the sunken ferry.
As of July 15 evening, the death toll from the mishap was recorded at 19. Thirty people survived the incident.
The roll-on/roll-off ferry left Ketapang Port in Banyuwangi, East Java, at 10:56 p.m. local time on July 2 with 53 passengers, 12 crew members, and 22 vehicles on board.
It sank en route to Gilimanuk Port in Bali around 11:35 p.m. local time. The wreckage of the vessel was found on the seabed of the Bali Strait at a depth of about 50 meters below the sea surface.
Related news: Ferry mishap: East Java SAR agency takes over search for 16 missing
Related news: SAR team finds victims of ferry accident in Bali Strait
Translator: M.Riezko BEP, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2025
