INDONESIA-PLANE/BLACK BOX-FAMILIES Indonesian search teams find black box, plane crash families wait to retrieve bodies

Record ID: 143557

  • Title: INDONESIA-PLANE/BLACK BOX-FAMILIES Indonesian search teams find black box, plane crash families wait to retrieve bodies
  • Date: 18th August 2015
  • Summary: JAYAPURA, PAPUA PROVINCE, INDONESIA (AUGUST 18, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE AND FAMILY MEMBERS WAITING AT SENTANI AIRPORT BANNER READING (BAHASA INDONESIA): "COMMAND POST OF DVI (DISASTER VICTIMS IDENTIFICATION) PAPUA PROVINCE, HEALTH UNIT OF PAPUA POLICE HEADQUARTERS" OFFICIALS AT DVI COUNTER VARIOUS OF OFFICIALS TAKING NOTE AT COUNTER PEOPLE WATCHING MANIFEST OF PLANE MANIFES
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4P62O2S8UVL5PFHKNUSGI0HXG
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Indonesian search and rescue staff said on Tuesday (August 18) they had found the black box of the crashed plane as families waited for the bodies of their loved ones to be brought back.
    Search officials had said earlier in the day that there were no survivors from the Trigana Air flight which crashed on Sunday (August 16) half way from Sentani Airport to the southern town of Oksibil with 49 passengers and five crew.
    The bodies are expected to be flown to Sentani Airport, where the flight took off, on Wednesday (August 19), a search team official said, as the weather hampered evacuation efforts at crash site.
    Family members have been waiting patiently at the airport outside Jayapura, capital of Papua province, since the flight reported missing two days ago.
    "I hope the government can evacuate my father's body safely to Jayapura, so we can bury him decently in the cemetery," said William who goes with one name like many Indonesians, a son of one of the passengers on the ill-fated flight.
    Another family member Pieter Urpubian thanked the government for the evacuation efforts.
    "I'm glad as our hope was fulfilled by the government now that all bodies were recovered, I hope they will bring all the bodies here to Jayapura to examine and we can bury (the decease) in the village," said Urpubian, whose brother Elli Urpubian was on the flight.
    Two hundred and sixty-six people were involved in the search operation, while 11 aircraft scoured the thickly forested area.
    Flight recorders, also known as black boxes, have been found.
    "Black box was discovered at the crash site around 2 p.m. local time (0500GMT). Now it is being evacuated with search team on land to Oksibil Airport. After that it will be sent to Sentani Airport near Jayapura," deputy operational officer of the Search and Rescue Agency, Heronimus Guru, told Reuters in Jakarta.
    It is not sure at this point where the black box will be examined.
    "The black box that was found will be brought to Sentani, after that it will be officially handed over to the National Transportation Safety Committee by the chief of Search and Rescue Agency. It is up to the safety committee to decide what they'll do with the black box, our job is only to find it and hand it over," said Guru.
    Trigana has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, online database Aviation Safety Network says. Besides the latest crash, it has written off 10 aircraft.
    Indonesia has a patchy aviation record, with other two major crashes in the past year.
    One involved an AirAsia flight that went down in the Java Sea, killing all 162 aboard. In June, more than 100 people died in the crash of a military transport plane, prompting Indonesia's president to promise a review of the ageing air force fleet.
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