Indonesian officials say survivors are unlikely after a Lion Air plane carrying 189 people crashed into the sea just minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s capital on Monday.
The Associated Press reports that search and rescue efforts have recovered human remains, aircraft debris, and personal items like a crumpled cellphone, ID cards, bags and photos from the seas northeast of Jakarta. More than 300 people, including soldiers, police and fishermen, are involved in the search effort.
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President Joko Widodo ordered the transport safety commission to investigate after the new plane crashed, and urged Indonesians to “keep on praying” as rescuers search for victims.
The flight was cleared to return to Jakarta after the pilot made a “return to base” request two to three minutes after taking off, an air transport official said. The plane plunged into the sea about 10 minutes later. Weather conditions were reportedly normal, but the plane had experienced a technical issue on its previous flight.
One child and two babies were amongst 181 passengers aboard the 1 hour and 10 minute flight to Pangkal Pinang, as well as eight crew members, Lion Air said. It said that there were two foreigners aboard: its pilot, originally from New Delhi, and an Italian citizen.
The search and rescue agency said the flight ended in waters off West Java that are 100 to 115 feet deep. The agency’s chief, Muhammad Syaugi, said during a news conference that divers are trying to find the wreckage of the Boeing 737 Max 8, which was delivered to Lion Air in mid-August. It was leased from China Minsheng Investment Group Leasing Holdings Ltd., according to the official China News Service.
Lion Air president-director Edward Sirait said the plane had a “technical problem” on its previous flight from Bali to Jakarta but that it had been fully remedied. He didn’t know specifics of the problem.
“Indeed there were reports about a technical problem, and the technical problem has been resolved in accordance with the procedures released by the plane manufacturer,” he said. “I did not know exactly but let it be investigated by the authorities.”
The pilot had more than 6,000 flying hours; the co-pilot had more than 5,000 hours, according to the airline.
Boeing Co. said it was “deeply saddened” by the crash and was prepared to provide technical assistant to the crash probe.
Flight 610 took off from Jakarta at about 6:20 a.m. and crashed just 13 minutes later, the Transport Ministry said. The crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore crashed into the sea in December 2014, killing all 162 people on board.
The crash comes after decade-long bans in Europe and the United States were lifted; the bans prevented Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe and the U.S. because of safety concerns. Europe’s decade-long ban was lifted in June of this year, while the U.S. lifted its ban in 2016.
