SilkAir search extended for three days

SilkAir search extended for three days

JAKARTA (JP): The search for the remains of the SilkAir MI-185
airplane which was due to end yesterday has been extended for
another three days to allow recently brought in dredgers to
complete their work.

"Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, through the
head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, Commodore Harinto,
instructed the operation to be extended until Monday," Commander
of the Palembang Air Force Base Lt. Col. Yanuwardi told The
Jakarta Post by phone.

He said the operation was extended as a dredger named Moshasi
sent by the Singaporean government arrived at the crash site only
Wednesday and it had proved successful in finding some remains of
the plane.

The SilkAir Boeing 737-300 crashed into the Musi River, South
Sumatra, on Dec. 19 on a flight from Jakarta to Singapore. All
104 passengers and crew on board were killed.

The plane was flying at its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet
(10,600 meters) in clear weather. Ground control received no
distress calls.

This has led to speculation of a sudden, massive mechanical
failure or perhaps a bomb, although no hard evidence of either
has been revealed.

Witnesses claim to have seen the plane explode in midair.

SilkAir is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines.

Commander of the Western Fleet's security task force Commodore
Rosihan Arsyad said yesterday that the plane likely exploded in
pieces as two weeks of joint search operations between Singapore
and Indonesia have recovered only small fragments of the plane.

"Just imagine such a big plane crashing to earth at a velocity
of 900 kilometers per hour," Rosihan on the Indonesian navy ship
KRI Teluk Gilimanuk was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

He said rescuers hoped to find more significant findings as
the sonar equipment from KRI Fatahillah last week located a 25
meter x 60 meter indent in the riverbed which investigators
suspect could be the location of the plane's fuselage.

"But we became quite sad after the dredger found the fuselage
was not there," Rosihan said.

The Moshasi only found fragments of the plane's cockpit and
tail which had been crushed to pieces.

The dredger can rake up to 18 cubic meters of mud from a depth
of 30 meters, Arsyad said, adding that Singapore sent 31
personnel to man the dredger.

Working together with the dredger is an Indonesian search and
rescue team which is expected to collect, clean up and record the
findings of the dredger.

The Indonesian team consists of 30 personnel from the Navy,
Army, Air Force and Police, Arsyad said.

According to Arsyad, the dredging by the Singaporean vessel is
expected to take four days.

One of the most sought after objects will be the cockpit voice
recorder.

Rescue teams last week recovered the flight data recorder
(FDR), but investigators warn that both items of the blackbox
must be discovered if investigations can become conclusive.

The FDR arrived in Washington Tuesday for examination by U.S.
safety experts.

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spokesman
Jamie Finch was quoted by Reuters in Washington as saying that
the recorder was being examined in the board's laboratory.

Only about 10 percent of the plane has been recovered but the
discovery of the flight data recorder was regarded as a
breakthrough.

No bodies have been recovered intact. Earlier in the search
divers found some body fragments which are being examined by
forensic experts to determine if identification can be made.

In Palembang, Antara yesterday reported that the location for
the mass burial had yet to be decided as authorities still need
to confirm the matter with relatives of the crash victims.

Minister Haryanto said last week the remains would be buried
in Palembang or near the crash site at the nearby fishing village
of Sungsang, about 65 kilometers north of Palembang. (10)