Search for Bodies Continues, Transportation Minister Says

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 2 November 2018
Category: News
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Transportation Minister Budi K. Sumadi inspects the Integrated Post at JICT 2 Pier in Port of Tanjung Priok on Thursday (1/11). (Photo by: Public Relations of Ministry of Transportation)

Transportation Minister Budi K. Sumadi inspects the Integrated Post at JICT 2 Pier in Port of Tanjung Priok on Thursday (1/11). (Photo by: Public Relations of Ministry of Transportation)

Even though the black box has been found, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi stressed that the search team coordinated by the National Search and Rescue Agency (BNPP) is still looking for one black box of ill-fated Lion Air JT-610 which crashed in Karawang waters, West Java, last Monday (29/10).

“We still have many tasks to do. The search for bodies is still underway and one more black box is still being sought,” Budi said after inspecting the Integrated Command Post of Evacuation and the arrival of black box at JICT 2 Pier, Port of Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, Thursday (1/11).

As for one black box found on Thursday (1/11) morning, Budi acknowledged the importance of the black box. He expressed his hope that the black box could reveal further detail what really happened, which caused Lion Air Flight JT-610 from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang lost contact and crashed in Karawang waters on Monday morning (29/10).

Meanwhile, Chief of the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) Soerjanto Tjahjono explained that the black box found was most likely the Flight Data Recorder (FDR).

“Our hard work has finally paid-off. This morning, we found one of the black boxes installed on the plane. Most likely, it is the FDR, and the other one is still being searched. The function of which is to learn the speed, altitude, and direction, so we can unravel the cause of the accident,” Soerjanto added.

Chairman of the Assessment and Application of Technology Agency’s (BPPT) Marine Survey Technology Center M. Ilyas went on to explain the process of finding one black box. “We found one black box in the northern area of the plane’s last contact. We use a combination of multi-beam technology with side scan sonar techniques,” he said.

On the occasion, the Minister also expressed his appreciation to all parties who have worked hard to support the handling of the accident.

“I would like to express my appreciation to the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia (Polri), the BPPT, state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina, and the KNKT which have worked around the clock,”Budi said, adding that during the inspection, he also received various explanations from Deputy for Facilities and Infrastructure, and the Search and Rescue Communication System Dody Trisunu. (Public Relations of Ministry of Transportation/ES).

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