No trace of survivors from Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia

Jakarta, Oct 30: Even after 24 hours after the Lion Air plane crash into the sea, there is no sign of any survivors. However, rescue teams are engaged in recovery of human remains, debris and personal belongings, off the island of Java, agencies reported.

So far10 bodies are recovered and kept in hospital for identification. 14 bags of debris and personal belongings of passengers are collected from the waters. The authorities have employed the services of drones and sonar technologies. All efforts are focused on recovering black boxes of the plane to determine the cause of the accident.

The plane crashed into the sea minutes after it took off from Jakarta for the city of Pangkal Pinang. The National Transport Safety Committee (NTSC) states that 178 adult passengers, one child, two newborns, two pilots and six crew members were on board the aircraft. The only foreign citizens in the cabin were one of the two pilots, Indian, and Andrea Manfredi, 26 year old Italian native of Massa.

Head of the Indonesian Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) Muhammad Syaugi said that a total of 50 divers are engaged in search operations 30-40 meters deep into the sea waters. So far they have recovered 10 bodies including that of a child which are kept in the hospital for identification. Besides, 14 bags of debris and personal belonging of the passengers were also recovered.

With the use of drones and sonar technologies the authorities are hoping to recover the black boxes of the aircraft so that they could ascertain the cause of the accident. The plane disappeared from the radar 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta and crashed into the sea shortly after seeking permission to return to Indonesian capital.

Managing Director of the Lion Air Group Edward Sirait said that the plane had a technical problem on a previous flight but that was resolved according to the procedure. The pilot and his assistant had over 11000 flight hour experience.

The Lion Air aircraft was leased from CMIG Leasing Group, a Chinese company based in Tianjin. The JT-610 flight is the first fatal accident involving a plane chartered by a Chinese company. The plane was delivered to Lion Air in mid-August, according to Planespotters.net, a website that monitors air traffic. CMIG Leasing is a subsidiary founded only last year by China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG), an investment group founded by 59 major private Chinese companies.