Day 11 of Lion Air Victims Evacuation, Basarnas Sweeps Sea Floor

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has started to focus on searching victims of the downed Lion Air JT 610 on the sea floor. Basarnas suspected numbers of victims’ body still located in seafloor around debris of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.

“Starting today [November 8], Basarnas targets to sweep sea floor and surface, victims are suspected still in seafloor around debris of the plane,” said Basarnas head M Syaugi in a written statement, Thursday, November 8.

Syaugi said teams would also seek victims along Tanjung Pakis Beach. Basarnas deemed victims whereabout had moved from the initial point of the crash on Monday, Oct 29, due to carried away by ocean current to the coast.

In the eleventh day of evacuation, Basarnas deployed 40 specialist divers to search victims within a radius of 250 meters, Syaugi added.

However, Syaugi continued, the team would also look for the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of Lion Air`s black box. “Basarnas coordinates with National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) and the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to search the CVR,” he said.

Up to Wednesday, November 8, Basarnas and joint evacuation team had found 187 body bags to be identified by Soekanto National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta. The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team had thus far identified 51 victims, comprised of 40 men and 11 women.

TAUFIQ SIDDIQ