Lion Air Crash: President Jokowi Praises Rescue Team

President Jokowi leads evaluation meeting when visiting Lion Air JT610 evacuation center in Jakarta, Friday (2/11). Photo by: Agung/PR)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo praised the search and rescue team that is currently evacuating the victims of Lion Air JT610 crashed in Karawang last week. The team consists of 859 personnel from the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), the Indonesian National Police (Polri), Ministry of Transportation, the Agency for Technology Research and Application (BPPT), Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and state-owned oil company Pertamina.

“Once again, on behalf of the Government and the Indonesian people I express my deepest gratitude,” President Jokowi said during a press conference after inspecting the search and rescue of the Lion Air victims in Jakarta, Friday (2/11). The President also praised the team for finding the black box of the aircraft.

Regarding the progress of the rescue, President Jokowi asked all personnel to continue to work hard to find the unfound victims. The President further said that the rescue operation is supported by modern equipment that can detect the seabed, either with camera or with scan sonar.

“We hope that your work hard will pay off and you can put your best effort and use all available capabilities and technologies to quickly find the unfound (victims),” the President added.

President Jokowi also instructed the National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT) to quickly find out the cause of the accident so that the Government can determine the next steps.

“Passenger safety must be prioritized and we hope that there will be no more accidents in the future,” The President concluded.

Also present during the event were Minister of Transportation Budi K. Sumadi, Commander of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, Head of National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) M. Syaugi, Head of National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT), and Head of the Agency for Technology Research and Application (BPPT).

For the record, Lion Air JT 610 aircraft bound for Pangkalpinang with 189 passengers crashed 13 minutes after takeoff from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday (29/10) at 06.20 Western Indonesian Time.

(MAY/EN/AGG/ES)

Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Edited by: Mia Medyana