A ceremony to hand over the flight data recorder of the crashed Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 to the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) (Photo: VNA) Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) on January 18 decided to extend the search for the bodies of passengers and debris of the crashed Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ-182 for another three days.
The decision was made after a meeting between Basarnas and the Ministry of Transportation, the National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT), the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team and other relevant parties, said Basarnas chief Vice Marshal Bagus Puruhito.
During the extended search operation, Basarnas will evaluate its daily findings to assess the outcome, effectiveness, and obstacles in the field, he informed.
In addition, it will also reassess developments to decide further steps in the search operation, he said.
On January 15, Basarnas had extended the search operation by three days following a week long search for victims and debris of the Sriwijaya Air plane, which had crashed in the waters off Seribu Islands on January 9.
The second black box that contains the flight’s cockpit voice recorder has yet to be retrieved. Meanwhile, the diving team continued to find body parts of the ill-fated plane's passengers.
The Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 had lost contact shortly after take-off. It had departed from Jakarta and was headed to Pontianak. The plane had 50 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
The incident is the deadliest aviation accident in Indonesia after the crash of Lion Air’s Boeing 737 MAX into Java sea which claimed the lives of 189 passengers and crewmembers in 2018./.
