Object suspected to be fuselage of crashed Indonesian plane detected

JAKARTA. KAZINFORM An object suspected to be the fuselage of the crashed Indonesia Lion Air plane was located on the seabed, a rescue official said on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

A ship equipped with side scan sonar device and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) has detected an object, suspected to be part of the fuselage of Lion Air JT 610 flight, which crashed into the sea off Karawang in Indonesia's West Java province Monday morning.

The object was detected on the seabed in waters of Tanjung Pakis in Karawang district of West Java province, said Didi Hamzar, director for preparedness of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).

Divers are approaching the object to confirm whether it belongs to the aircraft, Hamzar told a press conference at his office.

Indonesian Military Commander Air Chief Marshal and head of Basarnas Muhammad Syaugi are heading to the location where the object was spotted.

The object is said to be 22 meters long, five meters wide and 10 meters high.

Meanwhile, a total of 49 bangs of body parts have been retrieved from the sea as of Wednesday, Hamzar said.

Rescuers on Wednesday extended the search radius to 15 nautical miles, according to Basarnas deputy chief Nugroho Budi Wiryanto.

The plane en route to the city of Pangkal Pinang with 189 people on board was reported missing at around 6:30 a.m. local time Monday (2330 GMT Sunday), and was believed to have crashed 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta international airport.