Search continues for 8 people, including 5 journalists, missing near Anak Krakatau since 7 September

Safety & SecurityIssued: September 14, 2026

A speedboat carrying five journalists and three crew members lost contact near Anak Krakatau on Monday 7 September while covering the eruption, and as of today (14 September, day 7 of the search) none of the eight have been found. Basarnas (Indonesia's national search-and-rescue agency) has deployed naval vessels, a helicopter and hundreds of personnel across a search area of over 2,100 square nautical miles; scattered debris found in the water has so far not been confirmed as belonging to the missing boat. Today is the scheduled evaluation point for whether to continue the search. This is separate from our articles on airport closures and the volcano's own eruption activity — it is a search-and-rescue story that happens to be connected to the same eruption.

Timeline

Mon 7 Sep, 14:00 WIB
The speedboat Arupadhatu 1 departs Pagedongan Pier in Carita, Pandeglang, Banten, carrying eight people toward Anak Krakatau to cover the ongoing eruption: journalists M. Bagus Khoirunnas (Antara News Agency, Banten bureau), Ari Basuki (Merdeka.com), Yudistiro Pranoto (iNews), Firman Daus (Anadolu Agency) and Donal Husni (freelance), plus captain Warta (55), crew member Surakman (60) and guide Heriyanto (49).
Mon 7 Sep, 14:42–18:13 WIB
Khoirunnas shares his location with a colleague, Abay, at 14:42 WIB; contact with him is lost at 15:04 WIB. The last signal of any kind from the group is a photo guide Heriyanto sends from near the volcano at 18:13 WIB. No contact is received after that.
Tue 8 Sep
Antara's Banten bureau chief, Bayu Kuncahyo, reports the team missing to Basarnas after they fail to return. A search-and-rescue operation begins the same day.
Wed 9 Sep – Thu 10 Sep
The search expands to islands around the volcano and into Lampung waters, though PVMBG restricts direct searches of Sertung Island because it sits inside the 3 km volcanic exclusion zone. The Navy finds one life jacket west of the Cikoneng–Labuan waters near Anyer, Banten, on day 3 (10 September) but cannot confirm it belongs to the missing boat.
Fri 11 Sep
Basarnas head Marsekal Madya M. Syafii announces the operation will run for seven days in total (through Monday 14 September), with a naval ship (KRI Lepu), multiple SAR vessels, a Dauphin AS365 N3+ helicopter, local fishermen and an expanded 2,109-square-nautical-mile search area. He says a formal evaluation meeting — including PVMBG, BMKG and medical personnel — will take place on day seven to decide whether to continue.
Sat 12 Sep
Still no results after five days. The father of one missing journalist tells reporters at the search command post he hopes President Prabowo Subianto will visit.
Sun 13 Sep
On day six, the combined SAR team recovers a jerrycan, two tarpaulins and life jackets from waters near Anak Krakatau. On inspection, two orange life jackets bearing a "Milles.II" marking are confirmed not to match the boat's own equipment (the boat's registered life jackets are red, yellow and purple, with no such marking) — so this find, like the Navy's earlier one, does not confirm the group's fate either way.
Mon 14 Sep (today)
Day seven — the scheduled evaluation point. Basarnas, PVMBG, BMKG and medical personnel are due to meet to decide whether to continue the search beyond today based on how the operation has gone; no decision had been reported as of writing. Separately, Anak Krakatau itself logged four more earthquakes today, with the summit obscured by thick fog — see our dedicated eruption-log article for the volcano's own activity.

Key points

This is a search-and-rescue story, distinct from our articles on airport closures and the volcano's eruption activity — track those separately for travel and volcanic-hazard status.
None of the eight people — five journalists and three crew — have been confirmed found, alive or dead, as of writing. Debris recovered so far (life jackets, tarpaulins, a jerrycan) has not been confirmed to belong to their boat, the Arupadhatu 1.
The missing journalists work for Antara (Indonesia's national news agency), Merdeka.com, iNews, and Turkey's Anadolu Agency, plus one freelancer — the incident has drawn international coverage (AFP and others).
PVMBG's 3 km exclusion zone around the active crater has itself complicated the search, restricting direct access to at least one nearby island.
No Japanese Embassy advisory was found specifically on this incident; none of the missing are reported as Japanese nationals.

What this means for your Indonesian entity

If your organization sends staff or contractors toward an active hazard zone — whether journalists, inspectors, or anyone else — this incident is a sober reminder that Indonesia's own 3 km volcanic exclusion radius exists for a reason, and that sea conditions and communications near an erupting volcano can deteriorate faster than planned. There is no compliance or operational angle here for a typical office-based entity; this is a human story we are tracking because it is directly connected to the eruption our other articles cover, and because readers who have been following the crisis will reasonably want to know what happened to it. We will update this article if the eight are found or if Basarnas's search status changes.

Sources

This page summarises publicly available information for orientation. It is not tax, legal, or accounting advice, and regulations change. Verify against the linked primary sources and contact us before acting on anything here.

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Update: Soekarno-Hatta and four other airports reopen overnight — Garuda resumes Jakarta flights in phases from 8 September All news Anak Krakatau eruption log: no new eruptions since 11 September, but alert level holds at III (Siaga)

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