VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The joint Search and Rescue (SAR) team will narrow down the coverage area of its operation to locate the victims, airplane debris, and Cockpit Voice Recorder (VCR) of the crashed Sriwijaya Air SJ 182 plane.

"There are less objects for (underwater) search operation. Hence, we will narrow down the area," Director of Operation of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Brig. Gen. (Mar) Rasman stated at the Integrated SAR Command Post at the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) 2 on Tuesday.

Rasman noted that the SAR operation will be focused in an area where the team has found several objects before.

The search area will be divided into four sectors around Seribu Islands, each covering an area of 15-30 square meters.

"We will not spread out the team too far," Rasman stated while adding that some 300 divers will be involved in the operation.

As of Monday (Jan 18), the joint SAR team had retrieved human remains that were collected in 310 bags.

The team additionally found small debris of the ill-fated airplane collected in 60 bags, large-size wreckage in 55 bags, and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and CVR casing.

The SAR operation has been extended for three days until January 21, 2021

Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182, serving the Jakarta-Pontianak route, crashed in the waters off Seribu Islands, Jakarta, at around 2:40 p.m. local time on Saturday, January 9, 2021.

According to the Transportation Ministry, last contact was established with the Boeing 737-500 jet, bearing the registration number PK-CLC, at 11 nautical miles north of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after the aircraft crossed an altitude of 11 thousand feet and was ascending to 13 thousand feet.

The plane took off from the Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 2:40 p.m. local time on Saturday and was scheduled to land at Supadio Airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, at 3:50 p.m. local time.

The airplane carried 50 passengers, including seven children and three infants, as well as 12 crew members. (Antaranews)