JAKARTA: It is believed that there was no explosion before the Sriwijaya Air jet crashed into the waters of Kepulauan Seribu last Saturday, Indonesia National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) chief Soerjanto Tjahjono said.
He said this was because parts of the aircraft retrieved so far, measured more than 23 metres.
“Parts of plane wreckage were also found within an area of 400 metres and the aircraft did not experience an explosion before crashing into the water,” he said in a statement today.
The search operation for the aircraft entered its fourth day today with the focus to hunt for the black box, believed to be able to help Indonesian authorities identify the real cause of the crash.
Meanwhile, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Operations director, Brig Gen Rasman in a statement said, the operations today involved 2,600 personnel and 53 ships which are equipped with remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs).
In another development, Indonesian Minister of Communications, Budi Karya Sumadi in a statement said, the Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, where the recovered body parts are gathered, has obtained all 62 deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples from families of the victims.
The hospital will conduct antemortem and post-mortem examinations to identify the victims.
The Boeing 737-500 jet with 62 people including 12 crew on board, lost contact with ground controllers after taking off at 2.36 pm Western Indonesian Time from Jakarta en route to Pontianak, Kalimantan before crashing in the waters of the Thousand Islands chain. – Bernama
