TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Lion Air set to resume victim search

Roughly a month after authorities brought the curtain down on the search for the bodies of victims of Lion Air flight JT610, the airline is set to continue the search operation for missing crew members and passengers as well as the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the ill-fated aircraft

Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, December 18, 2018

Share This Article

Change Size

Lion Air set to resume victim search

R

oughly a month after authorities brought the curtain down on the search for the bodies of victims of Lion Air flight JT610, the airline is set to continue the search operation for missing crew members and passengers as well as the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the ill-fated aircraft.

The plane, which was a brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, crashed into the Java Sea shortly after taking off for a flight from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Islands, on Oct. 29, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board.

In a statement on Monday, Lion Air said that following requests from victims’ families it was now funding a multimillion- dollar search operation using a Dutch company, describing the effort as a demonstration of its commitment.

The search is also intended to locate the aircraft’s CVR, also referred to as the second black box, which has yet to be found.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) previously said it was crucial to look at the data recorded in the CVR in order to complete a comprehensive investigation report.

“Lion Air has hired a Dutch private company [to do the operation], which will use the MPV Everest [to look for the missing victims and the black box]. The cost of the operation could reach up to Rp 38 billion [US$2.6 million],” Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said.

Search operation personnel will focus on the last coordinates of the crashed flight with an operational time of 10 consecutive days this month, he said.

The operation was initially scheduled to kick off on Monday. However, it was delayed as bad weather hindered the vessel reaching Indonesia on time. The ship was held off in Johor Bahru port in Malaysia since Saturday evening and was scheduled to continue its voyage on Monday.

The MPV Everest is expected to reach on Wednesday the waters around Karawang, West Java, where the aircraft crashed.

“The delay won’t affect the period of the operation. It will work for 10 days in Karawang waters,” Danang said.

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) previously carried out the search and rescue operation for two weeks after the plane crashed. After extending the mission twice, the agency called off the search operation on Nov. 10 as rescuers were unsuccessful in recovering more victims’ bodies, despite the search area being widened to as far as the waters off Tanjung Pakis Beach in Karawang.

During the two-week operation, Basarnas had recovered some 196 body bags containing body parts, victims’ belonging and plane components.

The National Police’s disaster victim identification (DVI) team identified 125 people after tests on the recovered body parts.

While the search for missing passengers and crew had been called off, the KNKT said in late November it would continue to search for the missing CVR using a vessel rented from Singapore. The vessel is capable of remaining stationary without dropping anchor — an advantage for an operation in waters where a number of oil pipelines are located.

KNKT head Soerjanto Tjahjono said on Monday that his office was currently preparing an operation to locate the missing CVR. “Maybe we will launch the operation in two or three days.”

Dhani Dwi Raharjo, 32, whose wife was on board the flight, welcomed Lion Air’s intention to look for the remaining 64 missing victims.

“It has been a long process and Lion Air is willing to spend its money to continue the search operation. We think the previous search mission was not optimal in trying to locate our missing family members,” he said.

Dewi Siregar, 40, said her family did not have high hopes over the second search mission as she and her family had accepted the loss of Mangatur Sihombing, her brother-in-law, who was on the crashed plane.

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.