A plane crashes off Indonesia with 189 passengers on board; some remains recovered

PAKISJAYA, Indonesia (Reuters) – An Indonesian plane with 189 people on board crashed Monday in the sea and sank shortly after taking off from the capital, Jakarta, to travel to an area of ​​?? tin, officials said.

There was no record of survivors of the Lion Air JT610 flight, an almost nine Boeing 737 MAX 8, and relief officials announced Monday that they had found human remains on the site of the aircraft. 39 accident, about 15 km from the coast.

The plane lost touch with ground officials shortly after his pilot asked to turn around, about 13 minutes after takeoff, officials said.

Indonesia is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, although its safety performance is uneven. If all passengers are dead, this accident would be the second most serious air disaster in the country since 1997, industry experts said.

"We still do not know if there are any survivors," said Muhmmad Syaugi, director of the search and rescue agency, during a press conference, adding that "there are no survivors. no distress signal was received from the emergency transmitter of the aircraft.

"We hope, we pray, but we can not confirm."

At least 23 government officials, four employees of the tin miner, PT Timah, and three employees of a Timah subsidiary were on board the plane. A Lion Air official about an Italian passenger and an Indian pilot were on board.

The plane descended into waters of a depth of about 30 to 35 meters (98 to 115 feet). Items such as cell phones and lifejackets were found, as well as body parts.

Ambulances were lined up in Karawang, on the east coast of Jakarta, and police were preparing rubber dinghies, a Reuters journalist said. Fishing boats were used to help with research.

Edward Sirait, managing director of Lion Air Group, told reporters that the plane had a technical problem on a flight connecting Bali's resort island of Bali to Jakarta but that it had been "resolved in accordance to the procedure ".

Sirait refused to specify the nature of the problem but said that none of his other appliances of this model had the same problem. Lion had operated 11 Boeing 737 Max 8s and he had no intention of anchoring them to the ground, he said.

The accident is the first to be reported involving the widely sold Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer's single-aisle jet.

Private airline Lion Air said the plane had been flying since August and that its pilot and co-pilot had accumulated 11,000 flying hours.

& # 39; BE PATIENT & # 39;

The flight took off from Jakarta at approximately 6:20 am and was scheduled to land at Pangkal Pinang, the capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining area, at 07:20.

Distraught parents of people on board arrived at Jakarta Airport and Pangkal Pinang.

"Be patient, pray the best for Dad," said a woman arriving at Jakarta airport to a crying girl.

The woman refused to talk to reporters.

The chairman of the Indonesian Committee on Transportation Safety said that he hoped that the cause of the accident would be determined as soon as the black boxes of the aircraft, such as the voice recorder of the cockpit and data logger, were found.

"The plane is so modern, it transmits data from the plane, and we will also review it. But the most important thing is the black box, "said Soerjanto Tjahjono.

Security experts say that almost all accidents are caused by a combination of factors and that they rarely have a single identifiable cause.

The weather was clear, said Tjahjono.

President Joko Widodo said at a press conference that the authorities were focusing on search and rescue. He called for prayer and support for the country.

Efforts to locate the wreckage and recover black boxes pose a major challenge for investigators in Indonesia, where an AirAsia Airbus aircraft crashed into the Java Sea in December 2015.

According to international rules, the US National Transportation Safety Board will automatically assist in Monday's crash investigation, supported by Boeing technical advisors and US engine manufacturer CFM International, jointly owned by General Electric and Safran.

Boeing was deeply saddened by the loss, he said in a statement, and was ready to provide technical assistance for the investigation.

FlightRadar24 data show that the first sign of a problem occurred about two minutes after the start of the flight, when the aircraft had reached 2,000 feet (610 m).

He then descended more than 152 m (152 m) and turned left before climbing back to 1,524 m (5,000 m), where he remained for most of the flight.

He began to gain speed in the last moments and reached 345 knots (397 mph) before the data was lost while it was 3,650 feet (1,113 m).

The worst air disaster that occurred in Indonesia dates back to 1997, when an A300 Garuda Indonesia crashed in the city of Medan, killing 214 people.

Founded in 1999, Lion Air's only fatal accident dates back to 2004 when an MD-82 crashed on landing in Solo City, killing 25 people, Aviation Flight Safety Network announced. Safety Foundation.

In April, the airline announced a firm order for the purchase of 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 narrow-body aircraft at a list price of $ 6.24 billion. It is one of the biggest customers of the American planemaker in the world.