West Kalimantan Governor Sutarmidji welcomes arrival of SJ-182 victims coffins

Pontianak, W Kalimantan (ANTARA) - West Kalimantan Governor Sutarmidji welcomed the arrival of coffins of six passengers of the crashed Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 at Supadio International Airport in Pontianak city on Sunday.

"On behalf of the West Kalimantan provincial administration, I deeply condole the deaths of the crash victims, and lead prayer for them," he said.

Among the crash victims whose coffins arrived on Sunday were Toni Ismail, Athar Rizki Riawan, Ratih Windania, Yumna Fanisyatuhzahra, and Muhammad Nur Kholifatil Amin.

Governor Sutarmidji appealed to the Sriwijaya Air management to communicate only with the heirs of the crash victims for handling the plane crash claims.

The Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members on board crashed into the ocean near Jakarta shortly after taking off from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten Province on January 9, 2021.

According to the Indonesian Transportation Ministry, the airport authorities had lost contact with the Sriwijaya Air flight, serving the Jakarta-Pontianak route, at around 2:40 p.m. local time on January 9, 2021.

The last contact with the Boeing 737-500 jet was made at 11 nautical miles north of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, after the aircraft crossed an altitude of 11 thousand feet and was ascending to 13 thousand feet.

The plane, bearing the registration number PK-CLC, took off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 2:40 p.m. local time on Saturday and was scheduled to land at Supadio Airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, at 3:50 p.m. local time.

This ill-fated commercial aircraft's flight data recorder had successfully been retrieved by the Indonesian navy divers from the seabed on January 12, 2021 while its cockpit voice recorder was not yet found as of January 23, 2021.

The FDR device of the aircraft had been handed over to the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) for post-crash examination purposes.

Regarding this air accident, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said the crash has prompted the government to look into improving the domestic aircraft maintenance system.

"This is a tragedy. Hence, in my opinion, we will continue to improve the maintenance of our aircraft," the minister said recently.