Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency detects oil slick at West Java waters where Boeing 737 MAX 8 is defined to go down (Source: AFP/VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – No Vietnamese citizens were marked as onboard theLion Air passenger plane of Indonesia, which crashed into the sea on themorning of October 29, the country’s Vietnamese embassy confirmed.
Indonesia’s Tribunsemsel.com and several other localwebsites have announced a list of the passengers aboard the plane, on whichthere are no Vietnamese nationals.
The plane lost contact with air traffic control just 13 minutesafter takeoff. The jet, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, was en route from Jakarta toPangkakpinang in Bangka Belitung province off Sumatra island.
The plane had requested the air traffic control to return tobase before disappearing from radar, stated Bambang Ervan, a spokesperson forthe Indonesian Ministry of Transport.
According to the National Search and Rescue Agency(Basarnas), the total number of people on the plane was 189, including twopilots and six flight attendants.
Indonesia has opened a search and rescue campaign for theplane, said Muhammad Syaugi, head of Basarnas.
He said one of the focuses of the mission was to dive intothe waters with an average depth of between 30-35m to reach the main wreckageof the plane.
“We are now attempting a dive to retrieve the main wreckageof the plane. When we saw it from air, we were able to confirm its location. Wehave also discovered life buoys, mobile phones, and several other objects,”Syaugi said.
Basarnas also revealed that it had detected the location ofLion Air flight JT 610’s black boxes in the area of Tanjung Karawang, WestJava.
According to Lion Air, the plane itself had only been putinto operation in August, and the two pilots were both experiencedprofessionals.
Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait said that the plane had undergonea technical problem on a previous flight, but it had been resolved according toprocedure. He said Lion has operated 11 aircraft of the same model, the Boeing737 Max 8, and the other planes did not have the same technical problem. Siraitsaid there was no plan to ground the rest of its Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet.
Lion Air is Indonesia’s largest low-cost carrier, dominatingmore than 40 percent of the market. –VNA
VNA
