189 Feared Dead in Indonesian Plane Crash

Indonesia rescue teams expect no survivors after Lion Air passenger plane carrying 189 people smashes into the sea and sank minutes after taking off from the capital, Jakarta.
The Lion Air flight, JT610, pilot had asked to return to Jakarta’s airport shortly after takeoff, and his request was cleared by air traffic controllers. The plane then lost contact with ground controllers 13 minutes after takeoff and plunged into the sea from 3,000 feet.
Authorities quickly launched a search-and-rescue mission but said they have received no confirmation that anyone survived. Throughout the day Monday, rescuers pulled debris out of the sea, including ID cards and bags belonging to the passengers. Bodies and body parts were being recovered and sent to a hospital for identification.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said around 300 people involved in search and rescue operation as body parts recovered from wreckage. Nearby People also found remnants of the aircraft, including plane seats, in the water.
“My prediction is that no one has survived, because none of the victims have been found” intact, said Bambang Suryo Aji, the national search-and-rescue agency’s director of operations. Nine body bags, filled with parts of the victims’ bodies, were taken to the hospital.
Among those onboard were two pilots, six flight attendants and two babies, as well as 20 employees from Indonesia’s Finance Ministry. One of the passengers was Italian, and the rest were Indonesian nationals, and the pilot, Captain Bhavye Suneja, was from India. Relatives of passengers comfort each other.
Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest budget airline, controls over 50 percent of the market share, according to the Center for Aviation, an aviation market intelligence firm.
In a news conference, Lion Air Group’s chief executive, Edward Sirait, said the plane, a new model from Boeing, had a technical issue on a previous flight that was resolved “according to procedure.” He did not give details.
“Let the authorities investigate what happened to it,” he added, refusing to speculate on the cause. “But I made sure that this plane was released to fly by our engineers.”
>Juthy Saha