Searchers find debris in sea after 737 crash
A passenger plane carrying 189 people and operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air has crashed into the ocean, according to Indonesia’s search and rescue agency Basarnas.
The Boeing 737-800, flying from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang in Bangka Belitung province, took off at around
6.20am Jakarta time on Monday but lost contact with air traffic control at
6.33am.
Basarnas chief Muhammad Syaugi said that Indonesian authorities are not yet able to say how many people have died in the crash, and added that body parts have been seen floating near the crash site.
Basarnas has sent out boats and helicopters to search for the plane and had also found wreckage, and life jackets.
About 150 rescuers, including 30 divers, have been dispatched to the crash scene. Syaugi said the search and rescue teams had come from Jakarta, Bandung and Lampung and were headed to Tanjung Karawang, where the plane is believed to have gone down.
The depth of the water where the plane is believed to have crash landed is 30 to 35 metres. The black box has not yet been located.
It’s believed the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) on the plane was inactive.
Syaugi said Indonesia had checked with Australian authorities to see if any signal from the ELT had been intercepted, but it had not.
A tug boat working in the area near where the plane is suspected to have crashed was the first to report seeing debris in the water.
Families of passengers on the plane have reportedly flocked to the airport at Pangkal Pinang, where the plane was supposed to land.
A spokesman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware of reports of the missing Lion Air aircraft in Indonesia.
‘‘The Australian Embassy in Jakarta is making urgent enquiries with local authorities to determine if any Australians were affected.’’
Lion Air, which flies to 126 destinations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and China, is the second largest low-cost carrier in south-east Asia (after Malaysia’s AirAsia), and it’s growing fast.
For nearly a decade it was banned by the EU from flying into European airspace, deemed unsafe following a poor safety record since 2007, until the ban was lifted on June 16, 2016.
This year the carrier gained a top safety ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and was upgraded to the top safety tier by AirlineRatings.com, the global airline rating agency.