Indonesia finds body parts and debris from plane crash site

Indonesian divers have located parts of the wreckage of a Boeing 737-500 in the Java Sea, officials said, as rescuers pulled out body parts, pieces of clothing and scraps of metal from the waters where the Siriwijaya Air Flight 182 carrying 62 people is thought to have crashed.

A military vessel “found the signal from” the aircraft on Sunday and divers recovered parts of the plane from around 23 metres (75 feet) below the water’s surface, the transport ministry said in a statement, citing Indonesia’s military chief.

Hadi Tjahjanto said the objects recovered included broken pieces of fuselage with aircraft registration parts.

“We are sure that is the point where the plane crashed,” he said in the statement, expressing hope that weather conditions and “the view under the sea are still good so that we can continue the search” on Sunday afternoon.

The break in the search for Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 came after sonar equipment on a navy ship detected a signal from the aircraft at a location that fit the coordinates from the last contact made by the pilots before the plane went missing on Saturday afternoon.

The plane headed to Pontianak in West Kalimantan crashed shortly after takeoff from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

It’s still unclear what caused the crash. There was no sign of survivors.

 “We are doing our best to save the victims. We pray together so that the victims can be found,” he said, adding that he had asked the National Transport Safety Committee to conduct an investigation.

The nearly 27-year-old aircraft was much older than Boeing’s problem-plagued 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 flown and do not have the system implicated in the MAX safety crisis.

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

Fishermen in the area around Thousand Islands, a chain of islands north of Jakarta’s coast, reported hearing an explosion about 2:30pm (07:30 GMT) on Saturday.

“We heard something explode; we thought it was a bomb or a tsunami since after that we saw the big splash from the water,” fisherman Solihin, who goes by one name, told The Associated Press by phone.

“It was raining heavily and the weather was so bad. So, it is difficult to see around clearly. But we can see the splash and a big wave after the sounds. We were very shocked and directly saw the plane debris and the fuel around our boat.”

Authorities established two crisis centres, one at the airport and one at the port. Families gathered to wait for news of 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,” Yaman Zai said as he waited at the Pontianak airport on Saturday night. “[My wife] sent me a picture of the baby today … How could my heart not be torn into pieces?” he said as he sobbed.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Flight SJ182 was delayed for an hour before it took off at 2:36pm (07:36 GMT). It disappeared from radar four minutes later, after the pilot contacted air traffic control to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet (8,839 metres), he said.

Sriwijaya Air President Director Jefferson Irwin Jauwena said the plane, which was 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 city on the same day.

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

Founded in 2003, Jakarta-based Sriwijaya Air group flies largely within Indonesia. The budget airline has had a solid safety record, with no on-board casualties in four incidents recorded on the Aviation Safety Network database.

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

Between 2007 and 2016, the US Federal Aviation Administration lowered its Indonesia safety evaluation to Category 2, meaning its regulatory system was inadequate.  (Aljazeera)