Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla has urged all airlines, especially PT Lion Mentari Airlines, to further tighten their regulations and technical inspection routinely to avoid airplane accidents.

"The point is that the company (Lion Air) as well as the regulator must tighten the technical inspection for aircraft," Kalla stated here on Tuesday.

Allegations regarding the lack of supervision and periodic checks of the Lion Air JT 610 aircraft surfaced after the recognition of passengers, who had earlier used similar aircraft for the Denpasar-Jakarta route.

Lion Air President Director Edward Sirait earlier acknowledged that the ill-fated aircraft had experienced technical problems prior to its tragic crash.

Thus, the vice president urged Lion Air and the Ministry of Transportation to tighten the supervision of aircraft.

The search and rescue operation for the Lion Air JT610 plane that crashed in the Tanjung Karawang waters, West Java, has been expanded, as sea currents have scattered the aircraft`s debris.

"Bodies of the victims and the plane`s debris are forecast to have drifted away from the crash site," Navy Task Force Major Kurnia Hendra had earlier stated at the Pakisjaya evacuation post in Karawang on Tuesday.

The joint evacuation team in Pakisjaya had found some body parts and debris of the ill-fated JT610 aircraft and brought them to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta.

"We brought them all to Tanjung Priok via sea transportation," he revealed.

Meanwhile, spokesman of the West Java Police Sen. Com Trunoyudho remarked that as of Tuesday afternoon, three bags have already been sent to the Disaster Victim Identification team of the West Java Police in the Tanjung Pakis camp.

Two of the bags contained body parts, while another bag contained the aircraft`s debris. The evacuation team will place the body parts in orange bags, while debris of the plane will be put in black bags.

The body parts were sent to the Police Hospital R Said Soekanto in East Jakarta, he added.

Reporting by Fransiska Ninditya
Editing by Aziz Kurmala


Reporter: Fransiska Ninditya
Editor: Bustanuddin
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