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Basarnas ends search for Lion Air crash victims

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) stopped the search for victims of the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT610 on Saturday, almost two weeks after the plane crashed into the Java Sea with 189 people on board.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, November 11, 2018

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Basarnas ends search for Lion Air crash victims A time to remember: Family members of the Lion Air flight JT610 crash victims scatter flowers from the deck of KRI Banjar Masin into the sea near Karawang, West Java, in a ceremony held on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, to pray for their loved ones. (The Jakarta Post/David Caessarre)

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he National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) stopped the search for victims of Lion Air flight JT610 on Saturday, almost two weeks after the plane crashed into the Java Sea with 189 people on board.

"The search operation's success indicator is the victims, none of which the teams have been able to find since Friday noon until now [Saturday]. That is why I conclude that now the search operation is over," Basarnas chief Marshal M. Syaugi said on Saturday in a press release.

Basarnas had widened the search area off Tanjung Pakis Beach in Karawang, West Java, but to no avail, said Syaugi who also offered an apology to the families of victims.

“Throughout the mission, the search teams went all out,” he said. “We put our heart into our work. We can feel what is felt by the families of victims in particular, and the entire nation in general.”

Basarnas had extended the search mission twice since it started shortly after the plane was reported to have plunged into the sea on Oct. 29.

As many as 196 bags containing body parts have been recovered from under the water, with 79 victims having been identified by Kramat Jati Police Hospital as of Friday evening.

The victims' families participated in a mass prayer on board two Navy ships in the Java Sea last Tuesday, a day before Basarnas decided to extend the rescue mission a second time.

The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) will continue the search for the still-missing cockpit voice recorder (CVR), the second black box of the aircraft, with the help of around 10 Basarnas divers.

Divers have already recovered the other black box -- the flight data recorder (FDR). (ipa)

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