An Indonesian diver has died during the search and rescue operation for the Lion Air flight carrying 189 passengers and crew that crashed into the sea Monday.
Nov. 3 (UPI) — An Indonesian diver has died during the search and rescue operation for the Lion Air flight carrying 189 passengers and crew that crashed into the sea Monday.
Search and rescue efforts stopped at 4 p.m. on Friday as daylight faded, said Colonel Isswarto, search commander. Syahrul Anto, 48, failed to surface a half-hour later and decompression issues are believed to be the cause of his death.
Anto had recently returned to his hometown of Surabaya from Palu, where he helped in recovery efforts following an earthquake and tsunami that hit the area last month.
The Lion Air Flight JT-610 bound for Pangkai Pinan on the Indonesia island of Bangka crashed into the Java Sea shortly after it took off from an airport in Greater Jakarta Monday.
Pilot Bhavye Suneja said he wanted to return to the airport shortly after takeoff, but the plane disappeared from radar. A tugboat crew reported debris about 8 miles north of Tangerang.
All 189 passengers and crew are presumed dead .
At least 65 body bags have been recovered so far and some of the bags may contain more than one person’s remains.
The cause of the crash is unknown.
Search crews are using underwater sonar to search for the wreckage from the airliner.
They found one of the plane’s black boxes, which record flight data, from the flight Thursday.
Divers are still searching for the plane’s second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, other plane parts and human remains to help investigators determine what happened before the plane crashed.
Investigators have yet not extracted any information from the first flight data recorder.
Muhammad Syaugi, head of Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters Saturday that divers have now heard a « ping » from the second black box.
« Although the sound is quite weak, it came from the spot not far from the ship ‘Victory,' » he said, referring to one of the vessels involved in the search effort.
More than 100 divers are currently involved in the search, Syaugi said, adding that he received word the main body of the plane has been located.
Muddy waters and fast currents have impeded recovery efforts since the plane crashed Monday.
