SUMMARY NEWS OF LION AIR JT610

CONTACT LOST WITH LION AIR PLANE, TUGBOAT CREW 'SEE DEBRIS OF PLANE'

Jakarta | Mon, October 29, 2018

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) received a report on Monday morning that air traffic control had lost contact with a Lion Air flight from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang in Bangka Belitung.

A vessel traffic service officer in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Suyadi, told The Jakarta Post that at 6:45 a.m. he received a report from a tugboat, AS Jaya II, that the crew had seen a downed plane, suspected to be a Lion Air plane, in Tanjung Bungin in Karawang, West Java.

"At 7:15 a.m. the tugboat reported it had approached the site and the crew saw the debris of a plane," Suyadi said. As of 9 a.m. there was no report about passengers or the plane crew, he said.

Two other ships, a tanker and a cargo ship, near the location were approaching the site, he said, and a Basarnas rescue boat was also on the way.

Information gathered by the Post said that the plane, Lion Air 610, took off from Jakarta at 6:20 a.m. and contact was lost at 6:33 a.m.

'WE'RE HOPING FOR A MIRACLE,' SAYS BASARNAS DEPUTY

Jakarta | Mon, October 29, 2018

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) is hoping for "a miracle" as search and rescue (SAR) personnel attempt to locate passengers and crew of Lion Air flight JT610, which went missing on Monday morning en route from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang in Bangka Belitung Islands province.

The deputy of the Basarnas operation, Nugroho Budi Wiryanto, said that its personnel had yet to discover any bodies from the plane crash by 12:30 p.m. "We're hoping for a miracle from God," he said.

SAR efforts had recovered various types of documents, including ID cards, passports and driver's licenses. Authorities had yet to locate the main body of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, but they had found debris from the plane, said Nugroho.

"We have gone all out in deploying the equipment we have [for the SAR operation]," Nugroho said on Monday. "We haven't yet located the black box [...] our findings are not yet significant."

Authorities later announced that the plane crashed into the sea 7 nautical miles (12.96 kilometers) north off the coast of Tanjung Bungin in Karawang, West Java.

"Jasa Raharja is ready to provide Rp 50 million in compensation for dead victims, and Jasa Raharja will cover up to Rp 25 million in hospital costs for injured victims," Budi Rahardjo, the company's director, said in a statement.

PILOT REQUESTED RETURN TO BASE ONLY TWO MINUTES AFTER TAKEOFF: AIRNAV

Jakarta | Mon, October 29, 2018

A senior AirNav official has confirmed that the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT610 that crashed into the Java Sea on Monday morning requested to return to base only two to three minutes after takeoff from Soekarno Hatta International Airport.

“We received the request from the pilot to return to base. The air traffic controller gave permission to return, and there is a recording of it,” said AirNav president director Novie Riyanto in a press conference at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.

However, he went on to say that he could not explain why the pilot requested to return to base.

“What I have learned so far, there does not appear to be negligence by the relevant authorities [regarding the tragedy]. Whatever it is, let the KNKT investigate this incident,” he said.

Earlier, Lion Air said in a separate press conference that a technical problem was reported by pilots when the same aircraft was flying from Denpasar in Bali to Jakarta on the night before the crash.

“There was a report of a technical issue previously, but the problem had been addressed according to the correct procedures [after the plane landed at Soekarno-Hatta airport],” Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait said, adding that the plane had been declared “ready to take off” by Lion Air engineers before flying to Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Islands.

DNA TESTING BEGINS TO IDENTIFY LION AIR CRASH VICTIMS

Jakarta | Tue, October 30, 2018

The police have begun DNA testing to identify victims of Lion Air flight JT610, which crashed into the Java Sea on Monday morning, and had gathered DNA samples from 152 relatives at Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Ari Dono Sukamto said that at least 15 forensic doctors and DNA experts were working to identify the body parts that the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) had recovered from the Java Sea.

“Joint personnel have so far collected 24 body bags, [some] containing parts of the victims' bodies – not intact bodies,” Ari told a press conference on Tuesday. 

Basarnas head M. Syaugi stated that 10 body bags contained body parts, and that the remaining 14 bags contained debris from the plane and personal items presumed to belong to the crash victims.

Grief is palpable at the hospital facility as families cry silently while holding diplomas, family identity cards and other documents that might help in identifying the victims.

Air traffic control Soekarno-Hatta International Airport lost contact with the plane shortly after it took off at 6:20 a.m. on Monday. The plane was scheduled to arrive at 7:20 a.m. at Depati Amir Airport in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Islands.

The plane carried 189 people on board, comprising 178 adult passengers, three minors, two pilots and six cabin crew.

Separately, West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Agung Budi Maryoto called on local residents to assist authorities in the search-and-rescue (SAR) operation to locate crew and passengers of the downed aircraft.

"I ask residents and fishermen to join a beach patrol along the coastline, because the waves come in this direction [to Pakisjaya Beach]," Agung said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Those who discover plane debris or the bodies of victims should report immediately to the joint team on standby at a post on Pakisjaya Beach, Agung advised, adding that the information would be passed on to the SAR command post at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta.

SOME 900 PERSONNEL, 39 VESSELS SCOUR JAVA SEA FOR LION AIR PLANE, BUT NO SIGNIFICANT CLUES SO FAR

Jakarta | Tue, October 30, 2018

Despite some 900 personnel, including 50 divers, from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police and local fishermen working hand-in-hand to recover debris and bodies from Lion Air flight JT610, which crashed into the Java Sea on Monday morning, few significant findings have been made.

A team from Singapore with specialized equipment to locate the plane's black box has joined the search while Malaysian and Argentinian governments have also offered help.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the search and rescue team--assisted by four multipurpose research vessels, 35 smaller vessels and two helicopters—had only been able to find bits of wreckage, several body parts and personal belongings believed to belong to passengers. The findings were collected in 24 body bags that have been transported to Kramatjati Police Hospital, East Jakarta, for further investigation.

Meanwhile, the fuselage of the plane, inside which the bodies of most of the victims are believed to be, has not been located.

Basarnas, therefore, expanded the search area to 10 nautical miles from the place where the plane is thought to have gone down on Tuesday, from the previous 5 nautical miles on Monday. The agency has also called on fishermen who find anything related to the plane’s crash to report their findings to a post set up in Tanjung Karawang, West Java.

“We’ve expanded the search area today in the hope that we can find the plane’s main body and the victims believed to be inside it,” a senior official at Basarnas, Didi Hamzar, said in a press conference.

Didi further said that two additional body bags were on their way to the Police Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. None of the bags contained intact bodies.

Air traffic control at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport lost contact with JT610 shortly after it took off at 6:20 a.m. on Monday. The plane, carrying 189 people on board, was scheduled to arrive at 7:20 a.m. at Depati Amir Airport in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Islands.

The National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT)--involved in the search and rescue process as well as the accident’s investigation--said separately that it had made some progress but nothing significant.

“Up until now we haven’t got significant data [on the crash]. Please give us sufficient time to find the answers to the incident and to look into all of the data we have gathered,” flight accident investigator at the KNKT, Ony S. Wibowo, said.

The KNKT stated that it had collected basic data, including reports from the pilots who flew the plane from Denpasar in Bali to Jakarta on Sunday night, and a recording of the JT610 pilot requesting a return to base shortly after leaving Soekarno-Hatta airport.

“However, we cannot reveal much for now,” he said.

FLIGHT JT610 BLACK BOX LOCATED AND BROUGHT TO SURFACE

Jakarta | Thu, November 1, 2018

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has retrieved one of the black boxes from Lion Air flight JT610, as shown by Kompas TV footage at 10:45 a.m. Thursday.

Kompas TV journalist Iryanda Mardanuz said the black box had been placed in a white plastic container when it was brought to the surface after it had been located by a Navy diver.

The search team used a ping detector to detect signals from the black box, which is actually orange, as well as a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) that shows visual pictures of conditions under water.

The black box is crucial to answering why a brand new plane could crash in clear weather.

Earlier reports of the fuselage being found, meanwhile, have proven to be false.

Basarnas confirmed on Wednesday evening that a 20-meter-long object that had been located had turned out to be a shipwreck.

 “There are [signs] in several positions but none of them is the fuselage,” Basarnas operation deputy Nugroho Budi Wiryanto said Wednesday evening.

The Lion Air plane crashed on Monday morning while flying to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Islands, from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. The flight JT610 was carrying 189 people, comprising 181 passengers, two pilots and six crew members.

The authorities have retrieved body parts in dozens of body bags. Basarnas does not expect to find any survivors.

Nugroho said the search teams expected to find only more bodies. “Maybe tomorrow [Thursday] the [dead] bodies will be floating,” Nugroho said.

LION AIR PREPARES VICTIMS OF JT 610 VOCATIONAL MONEY RP. 25 MILLION

Jakarta | Fri, November 2, 2018

JAKARTA - Lion Air Flight Company began to raise Rp25 million in funds for each victim from the fall of the Lion Air JT 610 aircraft in Tanjung Karawang, West Java, Monday (29/10) morning.

"We will provide compensation amounting to Rp25 million for the burial of victims," said communication representative Lion Air airline Ramaditya Handoko at the center of the crisis at the Ibis Cawang Hotel, Jakarta, Friday (11/2/2018).

Ramaditya said that the compensation money was outside the cost of arranging the corpse flight to the most important city for the funeral of the victim.

He said Lion Air would also finance the corpse flights to areas where the victims would be buried.

Ramaditya said that the repatriation of the bodies of the victims of the Lion plane accident is planned to use the Lion Air Group commercial aircraft, namely Lion Air, Batik Air, and Wings Air.

The body will depart by Soekarno Hatta Airport and Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.

Previously, the Kramat Jati Police Hospital and Lion Air Group had handed over one body that had been identified, Jannatun Chintya Dewi, to cash on Wednesday night (31/10).

Jannatun's body was repatriated by Batik Air commercial plane at 05.00 WIB, Thursday (1/11) from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, to Juanda International Airport, Surabaya.