SAR Teams Dive Sriwijaya Air 737 Crash Site In Java Sea

by Dandy Koswaraputra (Reuters) Indonesian national search and rescue agency (Basarnas) divers continued to conduct the search at the plane crash site in the Java Sea on Monday (Jan. 11), pulling out more debris

The National Police Disaster Identification (DVI) team admitted that it was difficult to identify the victims of the Sriwijaya SJ182 plane that crashed because their bodies were no longer intact.

Related Book: On the Bottom: The Raising of the Submarine S-51 by Edward Ellsberg

Head of the DVI Division of the Medical and Health Center of the National Police Kombes Pol Ahmad Fauzi said identification of the bodies began Monday.

Basarnas Operations Director Brigjen TNI (Mar) Rasman as the Search and Rescue (SAR) Mission Coordinator said that the search area was expanded to six sectors on the third day.

According to Rasman, the search process is concentrated underwater using a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV).

The SAR team deployed 2,600 personnel using 53 ships to be involved in the search and evacuation of Sriwijaya Air victims.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Police Headquarters Disaster Victim Identification team starts identifying 40 DNA samples of Sriwijaya Air crash victims.

After getting a signal from a location believed to be the crash site, the Boeing ($BA) 737-500 crash site was also found, along with human remains, belongings, and life vests in the Thousand Islands area between the isles of Lancang and Laki.

The findings were taken to the emergency command post at JICT, Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is reportedly closely monitoring the search and rescue operations and pressing officials to get results.

The domestic flight departed from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport bound for the city of Pontianak in West Borneo when it lost contact within minutes after taking off. It carried 50 passengers, including 10 children, and 12 crew members.

Related Book: On the Bottom: The Raising of the Submarine S-51 by Edward Ellsberg

Writing by Dandy Koswaraputra, Sibel Uygun, Reuters

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This article contains reporting from Reuters, published under license.

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