Volunteer Divers Help Find Pieces Of Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 Aircraft

A number of volunteer divers who participated in the search process for the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft

JAKARTA - Volunteer divers from the Indonesia Divers Rescue Team (IDRT) helped the joint SAR operations team search for pieces of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 plane that crashed around the Thousand Islands on Sunday, January 10.

IDRT team leader, Bayu Wardhoyo, said that his party would deploy seven teams to look for pieces of the fuselage to the south of Laki Island, Thousand Islands.

"We plan to disembark at the suspected point, which has been scanned by the Basarnas ship. The diver will go down to confirm whether it is a piece of the plane, debris or not. Our job is to make sure," said Bayu when met at the JICT2 Integrated Command Post, North Jakarta, Sunday, January 10th.

Bayu said that IDRT carries diving equipment such as oxygen tanks, compressors and special equipment to detect plane pieces.

"We will dive to a depth of 30 to 40 meters. The radius is practically 100 to 200 square meters from our ship," said Bayu.

Bayu said that his team were divers with the qualifications to carry out rescue under water. This team, said Bayu, also helped search for Air Asia and Lion Air planes that crashed several years ago.

"The scheme, we make alternating schedules. We backup Basarnas special group which their qualifications are diving. Our job is to help them," he said.

During the search, one IDRT dive team was able to dive with the help of an oxygen tank for up to one hour of diving. Their search operation would take two days from today.

Previously, the Sriwijaya Air aircraft PK-CLC registration number SJ182 for the Jakarta-Pontianak route lost contact on Saturday, January 9, at 14:40 WIB and crashed in the waters of the Thousand Islands between Lancang Island and Laki Island.

The Boeing 737-500 aircraft lost contact at a position 11 nautical miles north of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang after passing an altitude of 11,000 feet and at the time of increasing its altitude at 13,000 feet.

The plane took off from Soekarno Hatta Airport at 14.36 WIB. The schedule is delayed from the previous flight schedule at 13.35 WIB. Departure delays due to weather factors.

Based on manifest data, the aircraft produced in 1994 carried 62 people consisting of 50 passengers and 12 crew members. Of these, 40 adults, seven children, three babies. Meanwhile, the 12 crew consists of six active crews and six extra crews.

Follow the latest information about the development of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft here.