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WORLD NEWS Monday 11 January 2021
Indonesian divers find parts of plane wreckage in Java Sea

By VICTORIA MILKO and six working crew members
EDNA TARIGAN and six other crew for an-
Associated Press other flight. “Our thoughts
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — are with the crew, passen-
Authorities said they deter- gers, and their families,”
mined the location of the Boeing said in a statement.
crash site and black boxes “We are in contact with our
of a Boeing 737-500 on Sun- airline customer and stand
day, a day after the aircraft ready to support them dur-
crashed into the Java Sea ing this difficult time.”
with 62 people on board Authorities established two
shortly after taking off from crisis centers, one at Soek-
Indonesia’s capital. arno-Hatta International
The head of Indonesia’s Airport, where the plane
National Search and Res- departed from, and one
cue Agency, Bagus Pu- at port. Families gathered
ruhito, said officials believe to wait for news about their
they identified the location loved ones. On social me-
of the flight data recorder dia, people began circu-
and cockpit voice recorder lating the flight manifesto
— the so-called black box- with photos and videos
es — because emergency An investigator of Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee inspects parts of Sriwijaya of those who were listed
signals transmitted by the Air Flight 182 that crashed in the waters off Java Island, at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, as passengers. One video
devices were detected by Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. Associated Press shows a woman with her
a navy ship’s sonar system. children waving goodbye
“Hopefully we can lift the pieces of children’s cloth- in expressing my deep con- by phone. “It was raining while walking through the
black boxes in short time to ing and scraps of metal dolences for this tragedy,” heavily and the weather airport. Sriwijaya Air presi-
determine the cause of the from the surface. Indonesian President Joko was so bad, so it was diffi- dent director Jefferson
crash,” military chief Hadi The break in the search Widodo said. cult to see around clearly,” Irwin Jauwena said the
Tjahjanto said. for Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 “We are doing our best to Solihin said. “But we saw plane, which was 26 years
Earlier Sunday, search and came after the navy ship’s save the victims. We pray the splash and a big wave old and previously used by
rescue operations resulted sonar equipment detected together so that the victims after the loud sound. We airlines in the United States,
in parts of the plane being a signal from the aircraft can be found,” he said, were very shocked and was airworthy. He told re-
found in the sea at a depth at a location that fit the adding that he had asked saw the plane debris and porters Saturday that the
of 23 meters (75 feet), lead- coordinates from the last the National Transport the fuel around our boat.” plane had previously flown
ing rescuers to continue contact made by the pi- Safety Committee to con- Transportation Minister Budi to Pontianak and Pangkal
searching the area. lots before the plane dis- duct an investigation. Karya Sumadi said the flight Pinang city on the same
“We received reports from appeared Saturday after- Fishermen in the area be- was delayed for an hour day. He said the plane
the diver team that the vis- noon, Tjahjanto said. tween Lancang and Laki before it took off at 2:36 was delayed due to bad
ibility in the water is good The plane was en route islands, part of an archi- p.m. It disappeared from weather, not because of
and clear, allowing the dis- from Jakarta to Pontianak, pelago around Thousand radar four minutes later, af- any mechanical problems.
covery of some parts of the the capital of West Kali- Islands north of Jakarta’s ter the pilot contacted air Indonesia, the world’s larg-
plane,” Tjahjanto said in a mantan province on Indo- coast, reported hearing traffic control to ascend to est archipelago nation,
statement. “We are sure nesia’s Borneo island, on a an explosion around 2:30 an altitude of 29,000 feet with more than 260 million
that is the point where the flight that was expected to p.m. Saturday. “We heard (8,839 meters), he said. people, has been plagued
plane crashed.” take around 90 minutes. something explode — we There were 62 people on by transportation acci-
He said the objects found It was still unclear what thought it was a bomb or board, all of them Indone- dents on land, sea and air
included broken pieces of caused it to crash. There a tsunami since after that sian nationals, including because of overcrowding
fuselage with aircraft regis- was no sign of survivors. we saw a big splash from three babies and seven on ferries, aging infrastruc-
tration parts. Earlier, rescu- “I represent the govern- the water,” Solihin, who other children. The plane ture and poorly enforced
ers pulled out body parts, ment and all Indonesians goes by one name, said was carrying 50 passengers, safety standards. q

6 rangers killed in latest attack at Congo’s Virunga park

By JEAN YVES KAMALE Conservation of Nature. for the Liberation of Rwan-
Associated Press “We confirm that a group da, known by its French
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — of armed men attacked acronym FDLR, an ethnic
Gunmen have killed at our positions,” Mukisya told Hutu group opposed to the
least six rangers in Virunga The Associated Press. “We government of neighbor-
National Park, the latest have dead and wounded ing Rwanda and one of the
attack in the part of east- among our ranger col- last factions of Rwandan
ern Congo that is home leagues.” There was no im- rebels active in the Congo.
to some of the world’s last mediate claim of responsi- In April 2020, an ambush
mountain gorillas, officials bility, though past attacks near the Virunga National
said Sunday. on Virunga park rangers Park killed 12 rangers and
The violence took place on have been blamed on five civilians, and critically
Sunday in Nyamitwitwi, lo- several armed groups that injured several others.
cated in the Rutshuru area vie for control of eastern More than 200 rangers have
of the park, said Olivier Congo’s natural resources. been killed since Virunga In this Aug. 12, 2012 file photo, Park rangers patrol in the Virunga
Mukisya, spokesman for the Among those rebel groups became a national park in National Park near Rumangabo, some 60 kms (40 miles) north of
Goma, eastern Congo.
Congolese Institute for the is the Democratic Forces 1925, officials say.q Associated Press