Indonesian authorities have called off the search for eight people, including five journalists, who went missing in the Sunda Strait after setting sail to report on the intermittently erupting Anak Krakatau volcano. Officials confirmed the suspension after a seven-day statutory search window yielded no trace of the boat or passengers.
The Final Days of the Sunda Strait Operation
On the tenth day of operations, or three days into the extension period on Thursday, September 17, 2026, the operational coverage expanded to 8,509 square nautical miles. Head of the Operations and Alert Subsection at the Banten National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Rizky Dwianto, said 523 personnel were deployed in Thursday’s operation, with the search zone divided into 10 sectors. There is no specific point, but [the search encompasses] the entire area where the boat could potentially have drifted,
Rizky said on Thursday.
A fleet of 24 units was deployed, including eight units from the Indonesian Navy, eight police fleet units, seven primary Basarnas equipment units, and one unit from the Ministry of Transportation. The 10 search sectors cover the waters off western Sumatra and Enggano Island (Sectors A and B), the Indian Ocean (Sector C), northwest of Panaitan Island (Sector D), Semangka Bay and Tabuan Island (Sectors E and F), the waters extending from Mount Anak Krakatau to Sebesi Island (Sectors G and H), and the Anyer-Carita coastline alongside Merak waters (Sectors I and J).
Operations ultimately concluded after authorities exhausted standard deployment windows without recovering the vessel. According to Al Amrad, head of the Banten Search and Rescue Agency, the joint effort was shuttered because on the seventh day they also found no signs, no objects. On the seventh day, we also found no signs, no objects,
he said, citing reports from the water police and navy.
The Missing Vessel and Those On Board
A speedboat carrying five photojournalists, two crew members and a route guide lost contact after leaving Carita, a coastal town in Banten province, for the volcanic island, said Al Amrad, Banten province’s Search and Rescue Office chief. He said the last message from the boat was received by relatives of a journalist on board at 6:13 p.m. Monday, saying the group had arrived in the waters around Anak Krakatau. They have not been heard from since.
The five Indonesian journalists work for Indonesia’s state news agency Antara, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, Indonesia’s Merdeka and iNews, while the fifth is a freelance photographer. Their last known location was about 18.5 kilometers (11.5 miles) from shore. Rescuers, who have been deployed since Tuesday, were still unable to establish contact with the group or determine their whereabouts,
Amrad said.
M.
Volcanic Hazards and the Search Infrastructure
Anak Krakatau initially erupted for about 25 hours over the weekend, and it has since continued to erupt intermittently with explosions ejecting lava, ash and incandescent volcanic material from the crater, Indonesia’s Geology Agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the eighth day of the search, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) deployed 20 vessels and more than 600 personnel to comb 3,962 square nautical miles of waters around Anak Krakatau and off the coast of Banten and Bengkulu provinces, amid cloudy weather. Searches along Banten’s shoreline and nearby islands have so far yielded no results, according to Rizky Dwianto, the head of operations at Basarnas’s Banten office. Islands where they could potentially have docked in an emergency have all been checked,
he said on Tuesday, referring to Serung and Rakata islands, which flank Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait, as well as Panjang Island in Banten. Rizky added that diving operations have been hampered due to the vast search area and the lack of information on the boat’s last known position. Basarnas’s aerial search with a helicopter on cloudy Monday also found no significant results.
Unresolved Inquiries and Future Uncertainty
Police are examining a body found on Enggano Island for a possible connection to the case, although DNA test results have yet to be released.
Amrad said the search could resume if new information or debris linked to the missing boat emerges. Authorities have alerted vessels crossing the Sunda Strait and urged fishermen and residents with relevant information to contact police or search and rescue agencies.