While search and rescue efforts continue at the crash site of Lion Air flight JT-610, many questions about the cause of this morning’s crash remain unanswered.
During a press conference this afternoon, Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait acknowledged that the plane had experienced technical issues during a flight the day before the crash.
“The plane last flew from Denpasar to Cengkareng (yesterday, Oct. 28) and there was a report of a technical issue,” Edward told reporters today, as quoted by Merdeka.
Edward did not specify the nature of the problem, but said that the plane had been cleared to fly this morning from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang.
“It had been worked on in accordance with procedure, which was released by the relevant party,” he said.
The “relevant party” he alluded to was the plane’s manufacturer, Boeing, who released a statement shortly after JT-610’s crash to express its condolences and offer assistance to investigators.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of Lion Air Flight JT 610. We express our concern for those on board, and extend heartfelt sympathies to their families and loved ones. STATEMENT: https://t.co/5e18xbb4uX
— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) October 29, 2018
The plane, a new Boeing 737-Max 8, had only clocked around 800 hours of flying time since it started flying for Lion Air on August 15. It is the first and only plane of this particular model to have crashed.
Search and rescue officials say they have located the plane’s black box in the depths of the sea and are working to retrieve it, which should play an important role in determining the official cause of the crash.
Authorities say they have recovered the body of one victim, the latest grim finding after the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) reported finding plane debris, life jackets, mobile phones, and several body parts in the waters at the crash site.
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 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. Basarnas found evidence that the plane had crashed in the waters of Karawang Bay off the coast of West Java soon after.
