Lion Air jet crashes into Bali sea

‘45 hurt but no fatalities’

BALI, Indonesia, April 13, (Agencies): A Lion Air jet carrying more than 100 passengers and crew crashed into the ocean while attempting to land Saturday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, injuring up to 45 people, officials said.

All 101 passengers and seven crew members were safely rescued from the plane, said I Made Krisna Maharta, an official with Bali’s search and rescue agency.

Up to 45 people were taken to several different hospitals for treatment, but there appeared to be no serious injuries, said airport spokesman Alfasyah, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. There were only three foreigners on board – two Singaporeans and a French national. All three suffered slight injuries.

TV footage showed police and rescuers using rubber boats to evacuate passengers and crew members. The Boeing 737 could be seen sitting on the water with a large crack in its fuselage.

Officials initially said the plane overshot the runway and fell into the sea, but a spokesman for Lion Air, a low-cost carrier, said at a news conference that the plane hit the water before making it to the runway. The weather was cloudy with light rain at the time of the crash.

The spokesman, Edward Sirait, said the new Boeing 737-800 Next Generation plane was received by the airline last month and was declared airworthy. The plane originated from Bandung, the capital of West Java province, and had landed in two other cities on Saturday prior to the crash.

“We are not in a capacity to announce the cause of the crash,” Sirait said, adding that the National Safety Transportation Committee was investigating.

Passengers recalled being terrified as the plane slammed into the water.

“The aircraft was in landing position when suddenly I saw it getting closer to the sea, and finally it hit the water,” Dewi, a passenger who sustained head wounds in the crash and uses one name, told The Associated Press. “All of the passengers were screaming in panic in fear they would drown. I left behind my belongings and went to an emergency door. I got out of the plane and swam before rescuers jumped in to help me.”

Expanding

Lion Air is a rapidly expanding carrier that holds about a 45 percent market share in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that’s seeing a boom in both economic growth and air travel.

Air travel safety issues are a longtime problem in Indonesia, highlighted last year when a Sukhoi Superjet-100 plane crashed into a volcano during a demonstration flight, killing all 15 people on board.

Lion Air signed a $24 billion deal last month to buy 234 Airbus planes, the biggest order ever for the French aircraft maker. It also gave Boeing its largest-ever order when it finalized a deal for 230 planes last year. The planes will be delivered from 2014 through 2026.

An Indonesian plane

carrying more than 100 passengers broke in two after missing the runway at Bali airport Saturday and landing in the sea, leaving dozens injured but no fatalities.

The domestic flight ended with passengers screaming in terror as the aircraft hit the water after missing the runway at the popular resort island’s Denpasar airport, despite fine weather.

The plane, which was delivered to Lion Air just last month, came to rest partially submerged not far from the end of the runway, with inflatable slides deployed from the front exits and a gaping crack in the fuselage towards the rear.

Rowed

Passengers in life jackets could be seen in the water as police in rubber dinghies rowed out from the shore.

“The plane plunged into the sea at high speed,” said passenger Ignatius Juan Sinduk, 45, from his hospital bed in Denpasar where he was being treated for breathing difficulties after his chest was injured in the crash.

“Everybody screamed and water suddenly surged into the plane. Passengers panicked and scrambled for life jackets. Some passengers fell, some ran into others, it was chaos.

“I managed to grab one (a lifejacket) and slowly swam out of the plane and to the shore.”

An airport spokeswoman told AFP there were 45 passengers who needed hospital treatment. A hospital doctor said one female passenger had suffered a life-threatening brain haemorrhage.

Worried relatives gathered at the head office of Lion Air in Jakarta. They included Masriyah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name and whose 19-year-old daughter was a stewardess on the plane.

“I called her hundreds of times but she didn’t answer her phone. I need to know whether she is okay,” she said, with tears running down her cheeks.

Bali is a hugely popular holiday destination, welcoming millions of foreign tourists from around the world every year.

Three foreigners were on board the Lion Air flight — a Frenchman, a Singaporean woman and a Singaporean man, according to the airport’s head of communications.

Transport ministry official Herry Bhakti initially said the plane overshot the runway, but later clarified his comments to say it landed straight in the water. Officials said they were still determining exactly why it ditched.

Lion Air’s general affairs director, Edward Sirait, said the aircraft was arriving from the city of Bandung in West Java province with 101 passengers — 95 adults, five children and a baby — and seven crew members on board.

“The plane broke into two pieces,” he said, adding that “judging from visual observation, the plane cannot be used any more”.

He said the plane was delivered to Lion Air in Indonesia on March 18 and had come “straight from the factory”. It started operations a week later and the pilot had flown for Lion Air for six years.