 |
| Debris apparently from the crashed jet was pulled out of the water (AFP Photo/Handout) |
All 189 passengers and crew aboard a crashed Indonesian Lion Air jet were likely killed in the accident, rescue officials said Monday, as they announced they had found human remains and would continue the grim search through the night.
The
Boeing-737 MAX, which went into service just months ago, vanished from radar 13
minutes after taking off from Jakarta, plunging into the Java Sea moments after
it had asked to return to the Indonesian capital.
Flight JT
610 sped up as it suddenly lost altitude in the minutes before it disappeared,
according to flight data tracking websites, with authorities saying witnesses
saw the jet plunge into the water.
"The
victims that we found, their bodies were no longer intact and it's been hours
so it is likely 189 people have died," search and rescue agency
operational director Bambang Suryo Aji told reporters.
Some 40
divers are part of about 150 personnel at the scene, authorities said, with
wreckage from the jet some 30 to 40 metres deep in the water.
Earlier,
video footage apparently filmed at the scene of the crash showed a slick of
fuel on the surface of the water and pictures showed what appeared to be an
emergency slide and bits of wreckage bearing Lion Air's logo.
 |
Distraught
family of passengers gathered at Pangkal Pinang airport, where the
plane had
been headed (AFP Photo/HADI SUTRISNO)
|
The carrier
acknowledged that the jet had previously been grounded for unspecified repairs.
"It's
really a mystery what could have happened," said Greg Waldron, Asia
managing editor of industry publication Flightglobal.
The plane
had been en route to Pangkal Pinang city, a jumping off point for beach-and-sun
seeking tourists on nearby Belitung island, when it dropped out of contact
around 6:30 am (2330 GMT).
Former
professional cyclist Andrea Manfredi was a passenger on the flight, the Italian
foreign ministry said.
"The
memory of a serious guy and in love with his sport, will remain indelible in
the minds of all those who, in these years, have had the good fortune to know
him," Bardiani-CSF, Manfredi's former team, said in a statement.
'He
called this morning'
Footage
from Pangkal Pinang's main airport showed families of passengers crying and
hugging each other, with some calling out to god.
"This morning he called asking about our youngest son," said a sobbing Ermayati, referring to her 45-year-old husband Muhammed Syafii, who was on board.
 |
A fuel
slick was spotted at the site where the Lion Air plane is believed to have
crashed into the sea (AFP Photo/Handout)
|
"This morning he called asking about our youngest son," said a sobbing Ermayati, referring to her 45-year-old husband Muhammed Syafii, who was on board.
There were
178 adult passengers, one child, two infants, two pilots and six cabin crew
aboard the flight, according to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety
Committee (NTSC).
About 20
finance ministry employees were on the plane including half a dozen colleagues
of Sony Setiawan, who missed check in for a flight he took weekly due to bad
traffic.
"I
know my friends were on that flight," he told AFP.
Setiawan
said he was only informed about his lucky escape after he arrived in Pangkal
Pinang on another flight.
"My
family was in shock and my mother cried, but I told them I was safe, so I just
have to be grateful."
Lion Air
said the plane had only gone into service in August.
The pilot
and co-pilot had more than 11,000 hours of flying time between them and had
recent medical checkups and drug testing, it added.
Lion Air
chief Edward Sirait said the plane had an unspecified technical issue fixed in
Bali before it was flown back to Jakarta.
 |
A search
and rescue operation swung into action just after the plane
disappeared from
radar (AFP Photo/Resmi MALAU)
|
"Engineers
in Jakarta received notes and did another repair before it took off" on
Monday, Sirait told AFP, calling it "normal procedure".
Poor
safety record
US-based
Boeing said it was "deeply saddened" by news of the crash.
Boeing reportedly
suspended release of the 737 MAX just days out from its first commercial
delivery last year due to an engine issue, according to airline safety and
product review site airlineratings.com.
It said the
engines were a product of a joint venture between US-based General Electric and
France's Safran Aircraft Engines.
Earlier
this year, Lion Air announced it was buying 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets for $6.24
billion.
Indonesia's
air travel industry is booming, with the number of domestic passengers growing
significantly over the past decade, but it has acquired a reputation for poor
regulation and its airlines had previously been banned from US and European
airspace.
In August
2015, a commercial passenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana
crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 people on board.
A year
earlier poor maintenance and inadequate pilot response was blamed for an
AirAsia plane crash which cost 162 lives.
Lion, a
low-cost airline which has engaged in a huge expansion in recent years, has
been involved in a number of incidents including a fatal 2004 crash and a
collision between two Lion Air planes at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.
No comments:
Post a Comment