People gather to watch the crashed Lion Air plane lying in the sea near Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, Indonesia, yesterday.
Agencies/Jakarta
The Lion Air jetliner that crashed into the sea off Bali’s airport over the weekend undershot the runway, an Indonesian government official said yesterday.
“We are going to probe why the plane had undershot and veered away from the approach path,” transportation ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said, drawing from an early assessment by the Indonesian National Committee for Transportation Safety.
Ervan said investigators were preparing to interview the Indonesian pilot and Indian co-pilot.
“They have been tested for drugs and alcohol by the Bali police lab and the results came back negative,” Ervan said.
There were at least three reports in 2011 and 2012 of Lion Air pilots busted for taking drugs just hours before duty.
The jetliner was carrying 108 people - including seven crew members and four foreigners - when it landed in waters off Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport and cracked in two. There were no fatalities.
“There are still seven passengers hospitalised while others have been released from the hospitals,” he said.
The investigation team has retrieved the plane’s flight data recorder, though it has yet to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder located on the plane’s tail.
Ervan said the plane’s position is still risky for divers trying to get into the plane and retrieve the voice recorder.
“The waves are swaying the plane’s tail. It could sink anytime and endanger the divers,” Ervan added.
The plane was being towed toward shore for dismantling, another official added.
“We have tugboats towing the plane’s wreckage to a vacant waterfront lot within the airport’s premises. Investigators from the transportation safety committee will inspect it first before it is chopped,” Ervan added.
Ervan said Lion Air had also given its permission for the Boeing 737 800 NG plane to be chopped before the wreckage can be removed to another place for further investigation.
Ngurah Rai air traffic controller Tri Basuki said the tower had no warning that the plane would miss the runway.
“I had no information the plane was falling. Suddenly I knew it had landed on water,” Basuki said.
Lion Air has a record of at least 19 incidents since it began operating in 2000.
In 2004, a Lion Air MD-82 crash-landed in Solo, central Java and killed 26 people. In 2005, a similar plane failed to take off due to flat tires and a range of other incidents included planes skidding off or overshooting runways.
Despite being still barred from flying European skies, Lion Air signed a deal last month in Paris to purchase a record order of 234 Airbus jets worth $24bn. Delivery is set from 2014 to 2026.
