It’s been one week since Lion Air flight JT-610 crashed off the coast of West Java and only a handful of victims have been positively identified by authorities. The families of those on the doomed flight now say they won’t carry out a ceremonial funeral rite scheduled for tomorrow before all 189 on board are identified.
A flower-throwing ceremony at JT-610’s suspected crash site in the Java Sea was planned for tomorrow by the government and Lion Air, but it has now reportedly been cancelled as the victims’ families want a definite conclusion to search efforts before holding any such commemoration.
“We are refusing to throw the flowers. We are still hoping our family members can be identified,” said a family member of a victim during a meeting with search and rescue officials in Jakarta today, as quoted by Kompas.
Another family member lamented the slow speed with which the plane’s victims are being identified.
“We have been here for seven days. As far as we can count, only 14 have been identified. If there’s seven [identifications] a day, then in 10 days there will only be 70,” he said.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said he accepts the family members’ refusal to attend the flower-throwing ceremony and would therefore cancel it and replace it with a group prayer.
According to officials, as of today, 14 victims of the JT-610 crash have been positively identified so far. The authorities have collected 105 body bags during search missions, but that number doesn’t necessarily equate the number of bodies recovered as many of them were found in pieces.
JT-610, which departed Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Oct. 29 at 6:20am and was scheduled to arrive in Bangka Belitung capital Pangkal Pinang at 7:20am, disappeared from the radar around 13 minutes after take-off.
The Aviation Agency says the flight’s pilot requested to return to Soekarno-Hatta shortly after take off before communications were lost with the plane. The National Search and Rescue Agency then found evidence that the plane crashed in the waters of Karawang Bay off the coast of West Java soon after.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined but the plane’s flight data recorder — a crucial piece for the crash investigation — was recovered on Thursday. To aid the investigation, the Indonesian government has suspended Lion Air’s technical director and technicians who cleared JT-610 to fly.
