As search-and-rescue crews continue to find wreckage from the Indonesian passenger plane that crashed Saturday, hopes have dimmed that any survivors will be found.
Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 was on its way from Jakarta, the country’s capital, to Pontianak with 62 people, including 10 children on board, according to rescue workers. The last time that the plane made contact was at 2:40 p.m. local time on Saturday. The plane dipped more than 10,000 feet in one minute after departing from Jakarta and is thought to have crashed off the island of Java.
Parts of the plane, a Boeing 737-500, not a Max plane involved in two major accidents that killed hundreds, were found at a depth of about 75 feet in the Java Sea, according to NBC News.
Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said that among the wreckage, divers found body parts, pieces of clothing, and broken pieces of fuselage. Officials said they also located the plane’s black box, a device that records flight data and audio from the cockpit, but its data has not yet been analyzed.
“We are sure that is the point where the plane crashed,” Tjahjanto said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed his “deep condolences for this tragedy” on Sunday and said the country was “doing our best to save the victims.”
“We pray together so that the victims can be found,” Widodo said.
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee will conduct an investigation into what might have caused the airliner to crash.
The flight was delayed Saturday, but officials said the delay was due to inclement weather, not damage to the plane or equipment malfunctions. Sriwijaya Air CEO Jefferson Irwin Jauwena said Saturday the 26-year-old plane was previously used by U.S. airlines and was “airworthy.”
