Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian search teams on Sunday recovered remains and properties at the site of a crashed Sri Wijaya Air jet that plunged into Java sea with 62 people aboard shortly after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Saturday afternoon.
Search teams filled two body bags with limbs and other human remains and sent them to Kramat Jati Police Hospital in East Jakarta, Senior Commissioner Yusri Yuni, spokesman of the Jakarta Metro Jaya Police, said at the Integrated SAR Command Post located in the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JIC) 2, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Sunday.
"Since yesterday, there have been two body bags (sent to the hospital). We are together with TNI (the Indonesian Military) and Basarnas (the National Search and Rescue Agency)," he said.
The police hospital personnel have prepared labels for any findings, both aircraft properties or passenger body parts.
"Two body bags have been sent to Kramatjati Hospital. An antemortem ( disaster victim identification/DVI) post has been set up there," Yunus noted.
To help identify the victims, the Jakarta Police have informed the victims' family members to come for DNA matching. So far, close family members of seven passengers and one crew member have come to the hospital
"We have told the victims' families to come,. We inform them that they must be the closest family members because we need DNA. And they are told to bring medical track records of the victims, that carry information, for example, about broken bones, broken teeth, or tattoos. We need such information," he remarked.
The ill-fated Sriwijaya Air jet reportedly carried 50 passengers and 12 cabin crew on its flight from Soekarno-Hatta Airport to Pontianak, West Kalimantan, according to Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi.
"The total number of passengers is 50, consisting of 43 adults, seven children and three babies, plus 12 crew members," Budi Sumadi said, during a virtual press conference held here on Saturday night.
The Ministry of Transportation had earlier confirmed that the air traffic controllers lost contact with Sriwijaya Air flight number SJ182 at approximately 2:40 p.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB).
The Boeing 737-500 plane, with registration number of 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.The plane took off from the Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 2:36 p.m. local time. The flight schedule was delayed from the initial departure schedule at 1:35 p.m. due to bad weather.
Pulau Seribu District Head Junaedi on Saturday said the Sriwijaya Air plane crashed in the waters off Laki Island, Tidung Island Village, Jakarta, during heavy rain.
"Based on information from local fishermen, they saw an object falling into the sea off Lancang Island and Laki Island. The rumbling from the plane crash was felt at the settlement area on Lancang Island," Junaedi was quoted as saying by the Pulau Seribu Communication, Informatics and Statistics Office. (*)
