Jet may have been found
A massive search effort has identified the possible seabed location of a crashed Lion Air jet, Indonesia’s military chief says, as experts carry out the grim task of identifying dozens of body parts recovered from the search area.
The two-month-old Boeing plane plunged into the Java Sea on Monday just minutes after taking off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.
‘‘Based on the presentation of the head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, the coordinates of the suspected body of the aircraft have been found. We will send a team there to confirm,’’ said armed forces chief Hadi Tjahjanto.
Boeing experts are expected to arrive Indonesia today, and Lion Air has said an ‘‘intense’’ internal investigation is under way in addition to the probe by safety regulators.
Locating the fuselage will bring the search effort closer to finding the airplane’s flight recorders, which are crucial to the accident investigation.
Data from flight tracking sites show the plane had erratic speed and altitude in the early minutes of a flight on Sunday and on its fatal flight on Monday.
Passengers on the Sunday flight from Bali to Jakarta have recounted problems that including a long-delayed takeoff for an engine check, unusual engine noises, vibrations, sudden drops in altitude, and cabin temperature problems.
Officials said the non-stop search effort had sent 48 body bags containing human remains to police identification experts.
Anguished family members have been providing samples for DNA tests, and police say results are expected within four to eight days. –AP