Rescue workers search for clues to crash
By Budiman Moerdijat
PALEMBANG, South Sumatra (JP): Indonesian and Singaporean minesweepers began combing the waters around the Musi River estuary yesterday in an attempt to locate the main fuselage of the SilkAir plane which crashed Friday.
Col. Nuranto, commander of the Palembang naval base, said KRI Fatahillah, an Indonesian antisubmarine ship, conducted sonar detection operations for about an hour yesterday afternoon.
"We will use every available equipment we have to locate the fuselage," he said.
A Singapore ship, RSN Punggol, also joined the operation.
But by late yesterday afternoon no immediate result was divulged.
"We are still evaluating the results. As soon as we get any we will announce it. We won't conceal anything, we will inform the press," Nuranto said.
SilkAir flight MI-185 crashed on its regular flight from Jakarta to Singapore. All 104 passengers and crew are feared dead.
Witnesses say the plane exploded before falling into the river's estuary, about 70 kilometers from Palembang.
Divers have failed to recover any intact bodies and have only recovered fragments of the plane including a piece of the wing and rudder.
The search for the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder of the plane, known as the "black box", also remains elusive.
Divers and military officers at the scene said there was no new development or major finds yesterday.
Lt. Imam Hidayat, commander of the Indonesian navy ship KAL Gombora, one of the coordinating ships, believes the debris found so far represents a mere 10 percent of the plane.
He said divers have had difficulty locating remains in the murky river.
"The depth of the river is six to seven meters but the riverbed is covered by another two meters of mud," Imam said.
Another Indonesian minesweeper, KRI Soputan, from Surabaya, East Java, will join the search and is expected to arrive this evening or tomorrow morning.
Several other Indonesian naval ships have also joined in the search and rescue operation.
Singapore currently has four ships, two in the Bangka Straits and two vessels on the river.
Lt. Imam Hidayat said the team of Indonesian divers comprises 35 from the Navy, 12 from the police, eight from the sea and coastal patrol and 14 from the marine corps. Forty Singapore navy divers are also participating in the search.
Late yesterday afternoon, about 70 relatives of passengers on the plane conducted a prayer service on board the Ekspress Bahari III ferry which circled the crash site.
A Buddhist monk led the prayers on the open upper deck of the ferry as family members burned incense and threw flowers into the river.
Singapore's Minister for Communications Mah Bow Tan arrived in Palembang yesterday and said no effort would be spared in the search operations.
In Singapore, AFP reported that SilkAir officials have refused to rule out sabotage in the crash.
"We are not ruling out anything. We are not speculating. The investigation will have to take its course," said Rick Clements, senior public affairs manager of SilkAir, in response to comments by Indonesian officials who said that sabotage was unlikely.
He said the airline had "not received reports of any bomb threat and no claims of responsibility have been received".
Gopi Bala, SilkAir manager in Indonesia, said the pilot's last request was to switch over to Singapore air traffic control to take over guidance of the plane.
He said the request was a normal procedure for planes when they are moving out of the range of the departure country and approaching the air space of the destination country.