"I feel a deep concern for all families of the victims. However, we hope the families would calm down while waiting for the SAR team to do their work on the field," the president stated at a press conference on the sidelines of the Our Ocean Conference 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Monday.
President Jokowi has ordered the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), the military, and police to conduct search and rescue operation to find the victims.
He also instructed the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) to investigate the aircraft crash and obtain results as soon as possible.
"We are doing our best to find and save the victims, and I continue to pray and hope the victims would be found soon," Jokowi noted.
Local authorities confirmed that Lion Air flight JT610 crashed some 15 minutes after taking off at 6:20 a.m. local time from Jakarta and was scheduled to arrive in Pangkalpinang in Bangka Belitung Province at 7:05 a.m. local time.
The aircraft carried 189 people on board.
Tugboats and other vessels from state-owned oil company Pertamina, which were near the crash site and first at the scene, found aircraft debris in the water, but no survivors yet.
Basarnas` Chief Muhammad Syaugi said his agency had received a report of the incident at about 6:50 a.m. local time and immediately dispatched resources to the possible crash site.
In addition to the aircraft debris, a buoy, cellphones, and some objects belonging to the passengers were found in the waters of Karawang in West Java, where the aircraft crashed.
Reporting by Bayu Prasetyo
Editing by INE
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Eliswan Azly
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
