Red Cross Readies Staff to Help Search for Missing Sriwijaya Air Plane

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) has gathered both staff and equipment to help evacuate passengers of Sriwijaya Air flight number SJ182, which reportedly lost contact around the waters of Thousand Islands on Saturday.

"The personnel come from all PMI branches in Jakarta, PMI Headquarters and PMI branches in Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi). They are all readied," PMI Secretary General Sudirman Said added.

PMI is also coordinating with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), he said.

He noted that he has asked all PMI branches in Jakarta to prepare ambulances and staff to help search for the Sriwijaya plane, which reportedly crashed into the waters off the Thousand Islands.

"We have readied one ambulance and four personnel," the spokesman for PMI branch in South Jakarta, Dedet Haryadi, said.

The Ministry of Transportation has confirmed that airport authorities lost contact with Sriwijaya Air flight number SJ182 serving the Jakarta-Pontianak route at approximately 2:40 p.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB).

"There has been contact lost with a Sriwijaya Air aircraft on the Jakarta - Pontianak route with the SJ182 call sign. The last contact was at 14:40 WIB," the Ministry's Director General of Air Transportation, Novie Riyanto, told Antara on Saturday.

Novie said that an investigation was currently being coordinated with the National SAR Agency (Basarnas) and the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT).

"We will provide further information, if there are additional developments," he said.

The Boeing 737-500 plane, with registration number PK CLC, had its last contact at a position 11 nautical miles north of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, in suburban Jakarta, after passing an altitude of 11,000 feet and while increasing its altitude to 13,000 feet.

Also Read: Sriwijaya Air SJ182: Plane Debris Found in Waters Off Thousand Islands

ANTARA