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CatastropheAsia

First victim of Indonesia crash identified

January 11, 2021

Authorities are searching for clues to explain what caused Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182 to abruptly plunge into the Java Sea. The plane's data recorders have been located, with efforts underway to retrieve them.

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Divers have scoured the sea bed for remains since the crash was confirmed
Divers have scoured the sea bed for remains since the crash was confirmedImage: Dita Alangkara/AP Photo/picture alliance

The crew of flight SJ182, which crashed off Jakarta with 62 people aboard, did not declare an emergency or report technical problems, an investigator said Monday. The first victim, a flight attendant, was identified among the recovered remains.

Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator at Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) also said the jet might have been intact before it hit the water.

Authorities are searching for clues that may explain how the Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plunged into the Java Sea so suddenly. 

Search teams on Sunday narrowed down the location of the black boxes , and a remote-controlled vehicle would help scan the sea bed for the flight recorders, said the navy's chief of staff, Yudo Margono.

"There is so much debris down there, and we have only lifted a few pieces. Hopefully, as we take out more, they can be found," Yudo told reporters aboard a ship.

What happened to Flight SJ182:

  • The plane took off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport at about 2:36 p.m. (07:36 UTC) Saturday.
  • The flight was bound for the city of Pontianak, northwest of Jakarta.
  • There were 62 people on board, including 10 children.
  • The flight last made contact around 2:40 p.m.
  • The plane lost more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) of altitude in less than a minute, according to FlightRadar24.
  • A sea and air search effort was launched, including 11 navy ships, two helicopters and 300 personnel.

First victim identified

Divers continued to scour the sea bed on Monday, successfully recovering aircraft pieces, including a mangled engine turbine and some 40 bags of human remains, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) reported. 

"We have been able to identify one of the victims of the accident, named Oki Bisma," national police spokesman Rusdi Hartono said. 

The 29-year-old flight attendant was identified through his fingerprints.

Search teams are grappling with a large amount of debris on the sea bed
Search teams are grappling with a large amount of debris on the sea bedImage: Tatan Syuflana/AP Photo/picture alliance

Aviation sector plagued by safety concerns

Flight SJ182 is the third Indonesian budget airline crash since 2014 and the second major air crash in Indonesia since 2018.

The country's fast-growing aviation sector has been plagued by safety concerns, with airlines having once been banned from entering US and EU airspace.

One hundred eighty-nine people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet crashed near Jakarta in October 2018.

That accident saw Boeing hit with billions in fines over claims it defrauded regulators overseeing the 737 MAX model. The plane was grounded worldwide following the crash in Indonesia, but also another one in Ethiopia.

But Flight SJ182's Boeing 737 model was first produced decades ago and was not a MAX variant.

jcg/rt (AP, Reuters, dpa)