Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Agustinus Beo Da Costa & Yuddy Cahya Budiman & Danya Bazaraa

Indonesia plane crash: Flight attendant identified as first victim by fingerprints

The first victim of the devastating Indonesia plane crash has been identified.

Okky Bisma, a flight attendant on the plane, was identified by his fingerprints, a police official told reporters.

"The quicker we can find victims, the better," search and rescue operation director Rasman MS said.

The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plane with 62 people on board plunged into the Java Sea two days ago, minutes after taking off from Jakarta's main airport.

Divers scoured the sea bed on Monday, retrieving human remains, personal possessions and pieces of plane wreckage until fading light ended the search, emergency officials said.

Indonesia identified a victim as emergency crews prepared to send in a remotely operated underwater vehicle to search for the jet's cockpit recorders in the sea.

Indonesian rescuers (BASARNAS) carry debris of the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 (ADI WEDA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

The Boeing 737-500 jet was headed on a domestic flight to Pontianak on Borneo island, about 740 km (460 miles) from Jakarta, on Saturday before it disappeared from radar screens.

It was the second major air crash in Indonesia since 189 passengers and crew were killed in 2018 when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX also plunged into the Java Sea soon after taking off.

The jet that crashed on Saturday is a largely different design.

Rescue teams carry parts of the plane wreckage (Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

The search team had narrowed down the suspected location of the "black box" flight recorders and the remote-controlled vehicle would help scan the sea bed, navy chief of staff Yudo Margono said.

"There is so much debris down there and we have only lifted a few pieces. Hopefully, as we take out more they (the recorders) can be found," Yudo told reporters aboard a ship.

Navy members and rescue (SAR) officers (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
INDONESIAN SAR TEAMS PULL OUT REMAINS OF CRASHED PLANE IN JAVA SEA

Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator at Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), said the jet may have been intact before it hit the water, given the debris appeared to have scattered in a relatively tight area underwater.

Once the flight data and cockpit voice recorders are found, the KNKT expects to be able to read the information in three days, Nurcahyo said.

The US National Transportation Safety Board will automatically be involved in the investigation, with technical support from Boeing as needed.

Indonesian rescuers and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) police officers label a child t-shirt (Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Rescue teams and part of the wreckage (Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Tracking service Flightradar24 said the aircraft took off at 2:36 p.m. local time (0736 GMT) and climbed to 10,900 feet within four minutes.

It then began a steep descent and stopped transmitting data 21 seconds later.

The Sriwijaya Air plane was nearly 27 years old, much older than Boeing's problem-plagued 737 MAX model.

Older 737 models are widely flown and do not have the stall-prevention system implicated in the MAX safety crisis.

With few immediate clues on what caused a catastrophic loss of control after take-off, investigators will rely heavily on retrieving the two flight recorders intact from the seabed.

They will also study maintenance and engine records, pilot rosters and training, air traffic recordings and other data.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.