REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has dispatched some 30 personnel to the location where the Lion Air JT610 aircraft crashed off the Tanjung Karawang coast in West Java on Monday. The Lion Air plane, with 188 people on board, en route to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkalpinang, crashed into the waters of Tanjung Karawang just 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 6:20 a.m. West Indonesia Standard Time.
"We will continue to increase the number of our personnel to be deployed at the crash site where the debris from the ill-fated aircraft was found," KNKT Chief Soerjanto informed the press at the Jakarta National Search and Rescue (Basarnas) Office on Monday.
Joint search and rescue team evacuate dead victims of Lion Air JT 610 passengers at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, Monday (Oct 29).
However, to date, Soerjanto said he was not aware of the exact number of survivors and fatalities in this air accident.
Also read: Lion Air crashes in Tj Karawang waters, 188 on board
Soerjanto added that the KNKT team dispatched to the crash site had brought along several sophisticated equipment to retrieve the black box from the seabed.
"We will continue to try to locate the black box to find the cause of the Lion Air crash," he remarked, adding that the crashed Lion Air JT610 plane was still new.
Soerjanto said the aircraft had joined Lion Air's fleet in August 2018 and had only 800 hours of flight time.