The Boeing 737, owned by the low-cost airline Lion Air, went down after taking off from the capital Jakarta. The Lion Air jet was one of the plane maker’s newest and most-advanced jets. Flight JT 610 was headed for the western city of Pangkal Pinang. Since the crash, rescuers have recovered some bodies and personal items, including baby shoes.
Currently, the cause of the crash, which involved a plane that had been in operation since August, remains unclear.
“We need to find the main wreckage,” said Bambang Suryo, operational director of the search and rescue agency. “I predict there are no survivors, based on body parts found so far.”
According to an agency press release, the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency BASARNAS has given orders to continue operations 24-hours a day.
“We are all out, we are exerting all our efforts to find where the aircraft is located,” BASARNAS Director of Operations, Brigadier General Bambang Suryoaji, said.
The Lion Air flight had been carrying 189 people, including three children, when it disappeared from radar during its short flight. The plane was carrying 181 passengers, as well as six cabin crewmembers and two pilots.
Recovered bodies have been taken to a hospital in east Jakarta, but the main wreckage had still not been located.
By: Maytinee Kramer
