Physique components, particles discovered at Indonesian airplane crash website | Indonesia Information

Indonesian rescuers retrieved body parts, clothing and scraps of metal from the Java Sea early Sunday morning, a day after a Boeing 737-500 with 62 people on board crashed shortly after take-off in Jakarta.

Officials hoped they could orientate themselves on the wreckage of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 after sonar equipment detected a signal from the aircraft.

Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi told reporters that the authorities had launched a tremendous search effort after investigating “the possible location of the crash site.”

“These pieces were found between Lancang Island and Laki Island by the SAR team,” National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bagus Puruhito said in a statement.

Indonesian military chief Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said teams on the Rigel navy ship equipped with a remote-controlled vehicle had detected a signal from the aircraft that corresponded to the coordinates of the pilots’ last contact before the aircraft disappeared.

“We immediately dispatched our divers from the Navy’s elite unit to see if the victims should be evacuated,” said Tjahjanto.

Indonesian Navy divers hold wrecks from Sriwijaya Air flight SJY182 during a search and rescue operation at sea near Lancang Island on January 10, 2021 [Adek Berry/AFP]An Indonesian soldier walks past a map showing the location where a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after taking off [Dita Alangkara/AP]More than 12 hours since the plane lost contact, little is known about what caused the crash. The almost 27-year-old aircraft was much older than Boeing’s troubled 737 MAX model, one of which crashed off Jakarta in late 2018, killing all 189 people on board the Lion Air flight.

Older 737 models are widely used and did not involve the system in the MAX security crisis.

“We are in contact with our airline customers and are ready to support them in this difficult time,” Boeing said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers and their families.”

Reported explosion

Meanwhile, fishermen in the Thousand Islands area, a chain of islands north of Jakarta’s coast, reported that they heard an explosion at around 2:30 p.m. (07:30 GMT) Saturday.

“We heard something explode; We thought it was a bomb or a tsunami because after that we saw the big splash out of the water, “the one-name fisherman Solihin told The Associated Press by phone.

“It rained heavily and the weather was so bad. So it’s difficult to see around clearly. But we can see the splash and a great wave after the noise. We were very shocked and saw the aircraft debris and the fuel around our boat. “

The authorities set up two crisis centers, one at the airport and one in the port. Families gathered to await news from loved ones. The 62 people on board included seven children and three babies.

“I have four family members on the flight – my wife and three children,” said Yaman Zai as he waited at Pontianak Airport on Saturday evening. “[My wife] sent me a picture of the baby today … How could my heart not be torn to pieces? He said as he sobbed.

Relatives of passengers arrive at a crisis center set up after it was reported that a Sriwijaya Air passenger plane lost contact with air traffic controllers [Tatan Syuflana/ AP]The flight manifest was spread on social media with photos and videos of people listed as passengers. A video shows a woman with her children waving goodbye as she walks through the airport.

Transport Minister Sumadi said flight SJ182 was an hour late before it took off at 2:36 p.m. (7:36 p.m. GMT). It disappeared from radar four minutes later after the pilot contacted air traffic control to ascend to an altitude of 8,839 meters, he said.

Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, President President of Sriwijaya Air, said the aircraft, previously used by airlines in the United States, was airworthy. He told reporters on Saturday that the plane had previously flown to Pontianak and Pangkal Pinang the same day.

“Maintenance report said everything was going well and airworthy,” Jauwena told a press conference. He said the plane was delayed because of bad weather, not any damage.

The Sriwijaya Air Group, founded in Jakarta in 2003, mostly flies within Indonesia. The low-cost airline has a solid safety record, with four incidents recorded in the Aviation Safety Network database showing no on-board losses.

In 2007, the European Union banned all Indonesian airlines after a series of crashes and reports of deterioration in oversight and maintenance since deregulation in the late 1990s. The restrictions were completely lifted in 2018.

Between 2007 and 2016, the US Federal Aviation Administration lowered its safety rating for Indonesia to Category 2, which meant that the regulatory system was inadequate.