Indonesia Boeing 737 Passenger Plane Crash Site Found, Navy Says

Desk Report

Published: 10 Jan 2021, 10:06 am

The Indonesian authorities say they have found the location where they believe the Boeing 737 passenger plane crashed into the sea shortly after its take off from Jakarta, the country's capital, on Saturday.

The Sriwijaya Air jet was carrying 62 people when it vanished from radar for four minutes on its journey to Pontianak in the western province of Kalimantan.

More than 10 ships have now been deployed to the site with navy divers.

Investigators are analysing items they believe to be wreckage.

A spokesman for the Jakarta police, Yusri Yunus, said two bags had been received from the search and rescue agency.

"The first bag contained passengers' properties, another bag contained body parts," he told reporters, adding: "We are still identifying these findings."

Search and rescue efforts were suspended overnight, but resumed early Sunday. Four aircraft were also deployed to assist in the search.

The missing aircraft is not the 737 Max, the Boeing model, which was grounded between March 2019 and December last year after two fatal crashes.

What happened to the aircraft?

The Sriwijaya Air passenger plane departed Jakarta airport at 14:36 local time (07:36 GMT) on Saturday.

Minutes later, at 14:40, the last contact with the plane was recorded, with the call sign SJY182, according to the transport ministry.

The usual flight time to Pontianak, in the west of the island of Borneo, is 90 minutes

The aircraft did not send a distress signal, according to the head of national search and rescue agency Air Marshal Bagus Puruhito.

It is thought to have dropped more than 3,000m (10,000ft) in less than a minute, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.

Witnesses said they had seen and heard at least one explosion.

Editor & Publisher: Eliash Uddin Palash

Address: 10/22 Iqbal Road, Block A, Mohammadpur, Dhaka-1207

Design & Developed By Root Soft Bangladesh