Indonesia: Suspected fuselage of Lion Air crash found

By Erric Permana

JAKARTA

Indonesia's rescue agency said Wednesday it has discovered the possible location of the Lion Air plane crash.

Lion Air flight JT 610 was traveling from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang when it crashed into the sea on Monday. All 188 people on board are presumed to be dead.

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said it has detected an object suspected to be the fuselage in Tanjungpakis Sea, West Java.

Didi Hamzar, director of alertness at Basarnas, said a team of 100 divers is deployed at five points to ensure if the alleged object is the fuselage.

He said the location of the object was detected by sonar of an Indonesian Navy vessel.

"We are processing the information from eyewitnesses, we are checking the validity of this alleged point," Hamzar said, adding that the object was seen at a depth of 31-35 kilometers.

Basarnas also confirmed to have found 54 identity cards of the passengers.

Budi Wiryanto, operation deputy of the agency, said they have collected some debris and personal belongings and identity cards of the victims.

The team also collected remains of the victims.

“We will expand the search area from the previous 10 nautical miles to 15 nautical miles,” he added.

Lion Air is one of Indonesia's biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.