Basarnas readies divers team to search crashed Sriwijaya plane
Coordinator of the Search and Rescue of Basarnas Rasman deployed divers team in JICT II Terminal, North Jakarta on Sunday (Jan 10, 2021). ANTARA/Andi Firdaus/sh
Jakarta (ANTARA) – The National Search and Rescue Team (Basarnas) has readied divers to locate debris of the ill-fated Sriwijaya Air plane that crashed in the waters of Seribu Islands en route from Jakarta to Pontianak, West Kalimantan
“We are focusing on the search in the crash coordinate. We have conducted a survey using underwater detection vessel. After we can find it, we will deploy divers,” Basarnas Search and Rescue Coordinator Rasman said here on Sunday.
Dozens of volunteers from divers clubs as well as Basarnas’ special team have been readied for the operation.
A spokesman of the Jakarta Police Senior Commissioner Yusri Yunus said the police has deployed personnel with search and rescue capability to join the mission.
The police has readied 50 divers, he said.
A Sriwijaya Air plane with flight number SJ 182 believed to have crashed on Saturday (Jan 9) in the waters off Laki Island, Seribu Islands District, not long after taking off from Soekarno-Hattar International Airport.
The Boeing 737-500 airplane had its last contact with the air traffic controller when it was at 10,000 feet altitude at 2:40 p.m. local time, at 11 nautical miles north of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and crashed in the waters of Seribu Islands between Lancang Island and Laki Island.
The airplane took off from the airport at 02.36 p.m, delayed from its schedule at 01.35 pm due to bad weather.
The plane, manufactured in 1994, carried 62 passengers, including 12 crew. Among the passengers were three infants and seven children.
The search mission has involved Basarnas, the National Committee on Transportation Safety (KNKT), the police, military and the Jakarta administration.
The Indonesian Navy has deployed 10 ships to the location,including the Teluk Gilimanuk-531 warship carrying SAR personnel and journalists, and Rigel-933 warship from the Navy’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Center (Pushidrosal).
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