Testimony Of Residents When Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 Plane Hit The Sea

Illustration / Crisis Center Command Post, SJ-182 Sriwijaya Air plane crash (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The sound of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 flight attendant on the Jakarta-Pontianak route in the Thousand Islands, North Jakarta, on Saturday, January 9 thundered like lightning and shook people's homes on Lancang Island.

A resident of Lancang Island, at around 14:40 WIB, Saturday, January 9, admitted that he was surprised to hear a thunderous sound like a big thunder heard in the pouring rain, even shaking the windows of the residents' houses.

"That day it was raining mixed with strong winds, suddenly there was a 'clatter' sound so loud that the house (glass) shook," said Junaenah (40), a resident of Lancang Island, quoted by Antara, Sunday, January 10.

According to Junaenah, at that time, the situation was not different, there were people who went to sea, looking for small crabs (a type of crab), with most people in their houses sheltering from the rain.

"When I heard I was shocked, O Allah, what sound was that, because it was so big like a bomb. But my children and I did not come out because I thought it was only lightning in the rain," said Junaenah, whose house is only about 200 meters away from the shoreline. .

Finally, the real news came and spread around 16.00 WIB on the island, where most of the people are fishing families. At that time, the Ministry of Transportation conveyed information that the Sriwijaya Air airline had lost contact around the waters of the Thousand Islands.

The news was also reinforced by other residents returning from fishing.

From the news brought by fishermen who went to sea, the residents of Lancang Island learned that the explosion came from a plane that had an unfortunate incident crashing between their place and the uninhabited island of Laki.

"The fisherman who just returned home informed that there (the waters of Lancang Island-Male Island) a plane crashed. I immediately remembered oh maybe it was this afternoon (when it rained) I thought the lightning was very big," said Marsu, Chairman of RT 001 / RW. 001 Lancang Island.

Marsu said that when he got the news, many residents of Lancang Island were deployed to search and evacuate the crash site, which was found to belong to Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 on the Jakarta-Pontianak route with the PK-CLC register number.

"Finally, the authorities here took the initiative to gather residents and search as much as possible until they were stopped at around 21.00 WIB," continued Marsu.

Waves So Very High

It was Hendrik Mulyadi, a small crab fisherman around the waters of Lancang Island-Male Island, Thousand Islands, who was the key witness to the fateful incident on Saturday, January 9 that afternoon.

Hendrik said that when the unfortunate incident occurred, he was at a location that is strongly suspected of being the crash site of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 plane along with two of his colleagues who were crew members on his crab search ship.

"At that time it was raining quite big (possibly foggy), and the three of us in the middle of the sea were concentrating on taking the bubu (crab catcher), suddenly there was like a lightning bolt towards the water followed by a loud bang, debris flying at the water (waves) were very high, fortunately my boat is okay, "said Hendrik.

Hendrik said that just before the incident, there was no sound of the aircraft engine before a loud bang, and there was no visible flames rising shortly after the loud bang.

"There was no engine sound. Then when the incident happened there was no visible fire, only white smoke, flying debris, large waves of water, and there was a smell like fuel," he said.

Although he was not injured and his ship was not damaged, Hendrik said he was shocked.

The Sriwijaya Air plane registered number PK-CLC SJ 182 for the Jakarta-Pontianak route lost contact on Saturday, January 9 at around 14:40 WIB and crashed in the waters of the Thousand Islands between Lancang Island and Laki Island.

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.