“Humanitarian operations are more important and of higher priority so we’ve canceled the Dharma Samudera Day ceremony to focus on the search and rescue [operations],” Yudo said in a media statement issued on Sunday.

Dharma Samudera Day commemorates the Battle of Arafura Sea on Jan. 15, 1962, in which Cdre. Yosaphat Sudarso was killed when his fast torpedo boat KRI Macan Tutul was sunk by a Dutch destroyer.

Several Navy ships and personnel were to be deployed to Lampa Strait in Natuna regency, Riau Islands, for the ceremony scheduled for Friday.

Yudo also ordered all Navy personnel and elements from all fleets to move swiftly in conducting SAR efforts for the ill-fated aircraft, a Boeing 737-500 which took off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten, and was heading for Supadio International Aiport in Pontianak.

Sriwijaya said in a statement that 40 adults, seven children and three babies were on board the flight. There were six active crew and another six crew as passengers, the airline added.

The Navy vessels deployed in the SAR operations are the KRI Teluk Gilimanuk 531 landing ship tank, KRI Kurau 856 and KRI Cucut 866 patrol boats, KRI Parang 647 fast missile boat, KRI Tjiptadi 381 antisubmarine warfare corvette, KRI Rigel 933 research vessel, KRI John Lie 358 (Panther) multirole light frigate, KRI Bontang 907 (Bell) tanker, KRI RE Martadinata 331 and KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai 332 Sigma 10514 frigates, KRI Malahayati 362 Fatahillah-class corvette, KRI Leuser 924 oceangoing tugboat, and the TD Galunggung and TD Malabar tugboats, the Navy said in its statement.

The KRI John Lie is carrying a Panther helicopter while the KRI Bontang carries a NBell 412 helicopter.

The KRI Teluk Gilimanuk also has 14 Amphibious Reconnaissance (Taifib) personnel on board, 17 from the Frogmen Command (Kopaska), 17 from the Naval Diving Agency and 13 from the Jala Mengkara Detachment (Denjaka).

Meanwhile, the Jakarta administration is deploying seven ships and four rescue boats, said Thousand Islands Regent Djunaedi as reported by kompas.com.

He said two ships were from the regency administration, one from South Thousand Islands district, two from Pari Island subdistrict, one from Tidung Island subdistrict, and one from the Jakarta Transportation Agency.

The four rescue boats comprise two each from the Jakarta Public Order Agency and Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency, he added.

The National SAR Agency (Basarnas) said a total of 53 ships had been deployed from various agencies, including those from Basarnas, the police and the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology’s (BPPT) Baruna Jaya research vessel.

A survey company, Mahakarya Geo Survey, has also joined the SAR effort, Basarnas said in its official Instagram account @sar_nasional.

The Air Force is deploying four aircraft, consisting of two airplanes and two helicopters, the assistant for operations to the Air Force chief of staff, Vice Marshal Henri Alfiandi, said on Sunday as reported by antaranews.com.

He said the airplanes were a Boeing 737 Surveiller maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) from the 5th Squadron in Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force Base (AFB) in Maros, South Sulawesi, and an NC295 medium transport aircraft from Halim Perdanakusuma AFB in East Jakarta.

The helicopters are an NAS-332 Super Puma from the 6th Squadron and an EC725 Caracal from the 8th Squadron. Both squadrons are based at Atang Sendjaja Air Force Base in Rumpin, Bogor regency, West Java.

Henri said Boeing the 737 Surveiller MPA and the Caracal had infrared devices to detect otherwise invisible objects on the sea surface while the NC295 and Super Puma were used for visual observation. (nvn)