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Jakarta, Indonesia – A Lion Air airliner that took off Monday from Jakarta crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff with 189 passengers on board. It is feared that they will all have died in the worst Indonesian air disaster of recent years.
The authorities quickly launched a search and rescue mission but later indicated that they were not expecting to find survivors.
Rescuers quickly began to remove debris from the sea, including parts of the aircraft fuselage, identity cards and bags belonging to passengers on board. When addressing an Indonesian television channel, a police officer said that at least one body had been found. People at a nearby offshore refining facility also found plane remains, including airplane seats, in the water. Officials said that they had not received any confirmation of anyone's survival.
"My prediction is that no one has survived because none of the victims was found" totally intact and alive, said Bambang Suryo Aji, director of operations of the national research and development agency. rescue. Six body bags were transported to the hospital, he added, filled with parts of the body of the victim.
More than 300 rescuers have been deployed by the agency, he said, and are still searching for the main body of the aircraft.
Lion Air flight 610 lost contact with air traffic control and fell more than 13 meters about 13 minutes after take-off, diving into the sea, officials said, adding that people on a nearby tug had seen the plane go down.
A passenger relative is praying while she is waiting with other people for news of a Lion Air plane that crashed off the island of Java at the airport. Depati Amir Airport of Pangkal Pinang, Indonesia, Monday 29 October 2018. (Hadi Sutrisno / AP)
The pilot of the aircraft had requested to return to Jakarta airport shortly after take-off and his request had been accepted by the air traffic controllers. The FlightAware and Flightradar24 air traffic websites showed that the aircraft was flying erratically, barely reaching more than 5,000 feet, before dropping quickly and disappearing from the radar.
The sky was clear and there was no weather anomaly.
At a press conference, Edward Sirait, general manager of Lion Air Group, said that the aircraft, a new model of Boeing, had a technical problem on a previous flight that had been resolved "in accordance with the procedure". He did not give details.
"Let the authorities investigate what happened," he added, refusing to speculate on the case. "But I made sure this plane was allowed to fly by our engineers."
Among those on board were two pilots, six flight attendants and two babies, as well as 20 employees of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. The pilot, Captain Bhavye Suneja, was originally from India and flew more than 6,000 hours, while his co-pilot had more than 5,000 hours.
In New Delhi, the bereaved parents of the pilot met in the living room of his parents' home on a narrow street in Mayur Vihar, a middle-class residential neighborhood in the east of the city. Family members refused to talk to the press.
Anil Gupta, a neighbor, said that Suneja had moved overseas several years ago, but was returning each fall to spend the Hindu Diwali Festival with his family. Suneja "wanted to be a pilot since childhood," Gupta said. "There was so much love for him in this street."
On Monday afternoon, distraught family members began to flow into a crisis center at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. Another was installed at Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang, a tin mining area.
Many had heard the news of the accident and had rushed to the airport, fearing the worst.
Fitri Sagala, 47, whose brother-in-law, Mangatur Sihombing, boarded flight 610 that morning. She was in the middle of a crisis with her sister, Mangatur's wife.
"I'm lost," she said, explaining that she was a widow and that her brother-in-law was the main provider. "I lost my husband, so he took care of me and my children."
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Disaster Agency, shared a video on Twitter of rescuers on tugs searching for debris off the coast of Karawang, a region of West Java near Jakarta . He also shared pics mutilated cell phones and a ripped bag that rescuers have recovered.
By the end of Monday afternoon, the rescuers had removed debris from the surface of the water and began to dive into the sea, about 114 feet deep. Wingship sonar scanners were also deployed to locate critical wrecks, particularly the aircraft's black box.
Speaking at a press conference in Bali, where he was attending a conference on the oceans, Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged families to remain calm while the authorities continue to seek life among the people. debris.
"We are doing our best to find and rescue the victims, and I continue to pray and hope that the victims can be found quickly," said Widodo. He called for prayer and support for the country.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737 Max 8, was purchased this year by Lion Air, the second-largest low-cost airline in Southeast Asia. The aircraft is one of Boeing's newest aircraft and has several hundred hours of flight time since it began operation by Lion Air on August 15th. It took off at 6:21 am local time and was expected to arrive at 7:20 am to Pangkal Pinang, the largest city in the world. on the Indonesian island of Bangka.
[How multiple disasters stunned experts and ravaged a corner of Indonesia]
"The Boeing company is deeply saddened by the loss of the JT 610 flight. We express our concern for the people on board and extend our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones," the company said in a statement. "Boeing is ready to provide technical assistance to the investigation of the accident."
Aircraft manufacturers and carriers have long regarded Indonesia as one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the region, with a rising middle class. Air travel is a necessity to travel the vast Indonesian archipelago. Domestic passenger traffic has tripled in the last 12 years to reach 97 million in 2017. Lion Air controls more than 50% of this market share, according to the Center for Aviation, a company's market intelligence firm. aviation.
However, the country has long received mixed reviews on aviation safety and all its airlines have been removed from the list of EU aviation safety authorities and deemed safe to travel only in June. Lion Air was licensed to fly in US Airspace in 2016.
Lion Air, created in 1999, is the largest Indonesian low-budget airline. He has been involved in a number of incidents in recent years, but none has resulted in casualties. One of his jet planes collided with a plane from another carrier, Wings Air, on the island of Sumatra last year, but no one been injured. In 2013, a Lion Air plane crashed into the sea after landing on the island of Bali. Several were injured, but no one was killed.
In 2004, a Lion Air plane skidded off the runway after landing in the city of Solo, killing 31 people.
If all passengers and crew were dead, it would be the country's second worst since 1997, when a Garuda Airlines plane crashed near the town of Medan, killing 234 people.
Mahtani reported from Hong Kong. Rohmah reported from Jakarta. Timothy McLaughlin in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
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