Lion Air Accident Causes Delay in Take Off and Landing

Kuta, Bali (Antara) - Lion Air accident on Saturday caused delays in takes off and landing at Ngurah Rai International Airport while rescuers were busy evacuating passengers of the ill fated aircraft. Lion Air's Boeing 737-800 from Bandung, West Java, landed on the sea just across the airport but all 108 on board are safe. Airport official, Tri Basuki, said, the airport was closed for an hour that aircraft could not land or take off at the airport until 17.00 local time. Landing and take off of aircraft in 12 flights were delayed for about 15 minutes each, Tri Basuki said. Three other flights had to turn to land on nearby airports such as Lombok International Airport on neighboring island of Lombok, he said. No official announcement about the cause of the accident that afternoon at 15.35 local time. The body of the new aircraft, which started operation only earlier this year, broke but it did not sink allowing the passengers to come out from emergency exits. A passenger was quoted as saying,"everything looked normal when one of the air hostesses said the plane was about to land , but suddenly we landed on the water." Three of the passengers are foreign nationals including two from Singapore and one from France. Most of the passengers suffered only minor injuries, but there were some breaking bones. Many have been allowed to leave hospital after being medically treated in Denpasar. (*)