Strong Winds Difficult Search For Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 Today

JAKARTA - The Operations Director of Basarnas, Brigadier General Rasman, admitted that the search for victims and materials of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft by the joint SAR team today experienced difficulties.

"Today the weather is not very friendly, so the results may be small," said Rasman at the JICT II Integrated Command Post, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Monday, January 18.

Rasman said, the weather conditions in the waters of the Thousand Islands are not good. Overcast clouds enveloped since morning. The dive team, he said, had carried out a search operation when the weather was getting clear. However, the weather got worse again during the day.

"As soon as noon, (the search) was not possible because the wind speed was up to 26 knots. It was dangerous for our colleagues to insist on diving. Consequently, there were not many findings. Maybe also because the bottom has been greatly reduced," said Rasman.

It was recorded that up to 16.00 WIB, Basarnas received five finds, consisting of 2 body bags containing the victim's body parts, 2 small plane fragments, and 1 large plane.

"Until now, there are two institutions that have submitted to us from Bakamla and from Koarmada I," he said.

In today's search, the joint SAR team is still searching for aircraft victims, aircraft engine parts, and black boxes with a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) type.

Yesterday, the SAR team found the CVR black box casing. However, the casing was detached from the core material that could dismantle the cause of the crash, namely the memory section.

Furthermore, today is the last day of the search for the SAR team, after being extended for 3 days. Rasmany said, today the Head of Basarnas will coordinate with related agencies regarding the consideration that an extension of the search period is still needed or not.

"This evaluation is reported to the Minister of Transportation to determine whether it is extended or not. Let's wait. Whatever the decision, of course there are many considerations that underlie it to be extended or terminated today," Rasman explained.