The ill-fated Lion Air plane, with 188 people on board, en route from Jakarta to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkalpinang, crashed into the waters of Tanjung Karawang just 13 minutes after takeoff from the Jakarta`s Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 6:20 a.m. West Indonesia Standard Time.
"We will continue to increase the number of our personnel to be deployed at the crash site where the debris from the ill-fated aircraft was found," KNKT Chief Soerjanto informed the press at the Jakarta National Search and Rescue (Basarnas) Office on Monday.
However, to date, Soerjanto said he was not aware of the exact number of survivors and fatalities in this air accident.
Soerjanto added that the KNKT team dispatched to the crash site had brought along several sophisticated equipment to retrieve the black box from the seabed.
"We will continue to try to locate the black box to find the cause of the Lion Air crash," he remarked, adding that the crashed Lion Air JT610 plane was still new.
Soerjanto said the aircraft had joined Lion Air`s fleet in August 2018 and had only 800 hours of flight time.
Reporting by Ahmad Wijaya
Editing by Otniel Tamindael, Sri Haryati
Reporter: Ahmad Wijaya
Editor: Bustanuddin
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
