JAKARTA: A search and rescue mission is under way for passengers of Lion Air flight JT610 after it crashed early on Monday (Oct 29).
The plane lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta at around 6.20am (7.20am Singapore time), a spokesman for Indonesia's search and rescue agency said.
It was due to have landed in Pangkal Pinang, on the island of Bangka, at 7.20am, the Flightradar24 website showed.
Indonesian rescue officials said that all 189 passengers and crew aboard the flight are likely to have been killed in the accident. Rescuers have begun retrieving human body parts as well as debris from the wreckage, with remains of a baby among those recovered.
In an update on Tuesday (Oct 30) morning, Lion Air said human remains have been recovered in 24 body bags. At least 10 bodies have been recovered and sent to the hospital for identification, said Muhammad Syaugi, head of BASARNAS, Indonesia's national search and rescue agency.
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Members of a rescue team line up body bags at a port in North Jakarta. (Photo: AFP/Resmi Malau)
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Additionally, 14 bags of aircraft debris and personal belongings of those on board the plane have also been retrieved. Items such as handphones, handbags, identity cards and life vests were found in waters about 30 metres to 35 metres deep near where the plane lost contact with air traffic control.
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Fourteen bags filled with debris from the crashed Lion Air jet have been collected. (Photo: AFP/Adek Berry)
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Both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are still missing.
An underwater acoustic beacon has been deployed to locate the main body of the plane.
In addition to 15 vessels scouring the sea surface, the search and rescue agency added that four sonar detectors were also deployed in areas where aircraft debris had been found a day earlier, off the shore of Karawang, West Java.