Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) is currently looking for survivors from the Lion Air flight JT-610 which crashed off the coast of West Java this morning, but their latest findings seem to indicate the worst.
“There’s plane debris, life jackets, mobile phones, and several body parts,” Basarnas Head M. Syaugi said during a press conference this morning, as quoted by Kompas.
Authorities have not released any information regarding survivors or the possibility of survivors thus far.
As confirmed by Indonesia’s Aviation Agency, the aircraft was carrying 188 people, consisting of 178 adult passengers, one child and two infants, as well as two pilots and five air crew members.
There are reports indicating that numerous government officials were onboard JT-610, including 20 employees of the Finance Ministry, five members of the Bangka Belitung Regional Council (DPRD), three Bangka Belitung police officers, and three judges.
New plane
According to The National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT), the plane, a Boeing 737-MAX 8, is relatively new in that it has only been in operation for Lion Air for two months.
“The plane became part of Lion Air’s fleet in August 2018 and it has clocked up 800 flying hours, so it’s relatively new,” KNKT Head Soerjanto told the press this morning, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
KNKT says further investigation is needed to determine the cause of the crash. Lion Air says the plane was cleared to fly.
The flight’s captain, identified as Indian national Bhavye Suneja, is reported to have clocked up 6,000 flying hours while his co-pilot, Indonesian national Harvino, has 5,000 flying hours under his belt.
JT-610, which departed from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport 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 also says the flight’s pilot requested to return to Soekarno-Hatta shortly after take off before communications were lost with the plane. Basarnas then found evidence that the plane crashed in the waters of Karawang Bay off the coast of West Java soon after.
