Distraught families of Sriwijaya Air victims visit Java Sea crash site
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[January 22, 2021]
By Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Adi Kurniawan
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Relatives of those
killed in the Sriwijaya Air plane crash on Jan. 9 wept and threw red and
white petals into the ocean on Friday after an Indonesian navy vessel
took them to the site in the Java Sea where their loved ones perished.
Flight SJ 182 crashed minutes after take-off from Jakarta, killing all
62 people on board. Indonesian authorities on Thursday halted the search
for victims, but said the hunt would continue for the jet's cockpit
voice recorder (CVR).
"I recalled my brother's face as I threw the flowers," said Heri Purnomo,
of his late brother Nurkholid Fatil Amin, a father of two. "Tears kept
streaming down, it was as though his face was reflected from the sea's
surface."
During the search and rescue operation in one of Indonesia's worst
aviation disasters, divers retrieved wreckage from the plane and remains
of the victims, which have been taken to a police hospital for DNA
identification.
"We hope from the body parts that have been found they can identify our
brother," Heri told reporters. "(So) we can bring his body to bury in
Pontianak."
Sriwijaya Air Chief Executive Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, who was also on
board the navy vessel, said the entire airline was deeply saddened by
the crash.
"We also lost our family in the Sriwijaya Air Group. I am personally
devastated by this incident," he said, noting the airline had pledged to
provide assistance to the victim's families.
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Family members of the passengers of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182,
which crashed into the sea, react while throwing flowers and petals
from the deck of Indonesia's Naval ship KRI Semarang as they visit
the site of the crash to pay their tribute, at the sea off the
Jakarta coast, Indonesia, January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar
Ulfiana
Indonesian transport minister Budi Karya Sumadi announced on
Wednesday the families would receive 1.25 billion Indonesian rupiah
($89,000) per relative killed in the crash.
Indonesia's air accident investigator is probing whether a problem
with the Boeing <BA.N? 737-500's autothrottle system, which controls
engine power automatically, contributed to the fatal crash.
(Reporting by Ed Davies; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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