Lion Air Continues Search for Plane Crash Victims

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Low-cost carrier Lion Air allocated Rp38 billion to continue the search for victims of Boeing 737 Max 8 JT 610 with a registration number PK-LQP that crashed in the waters of Karawang, West Java, last October.

Lion Air Corporate Communications Strategic Danang Mandala Prihantoro, in an official statement, said the company synergized with a Dutch private company with its MPV Everest ship to continue the search.

Danang explained, the bodies and crew found during the search would be taken and handed over to the National SAR Agency (Basarnas). "The search process includes the plane’s black box of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR)," he said early Monday, December 17.

The Everest MPV ship is currently sailing in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and is scheduled to arrive in Karawang waters on Wednesday, December 19. The arrival time of the ship is two days late than the plan due to bad weather in Johor Bahru which disrupted the process of mobilizing equipment and crew for the past three days.

Danang added the ten-day search for victims and the black box VCR would be centered in the coordinated area of the last mapping result of the crash site.

Lion Air JT 610 aircraft plunged into Karawang waters on Monday, October 29, boarding a total of 181 passengers and eight crew, en route to Pangkalpinang from Jakarta. Basarnas stopped the search for victims on November 10, and to date, 125 bodies of victims had been identified.