scorecardA previous Lion Air flight crash landed into the sea in 2013, but with far less deadly results
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A previous Lion Air flight crash landed into the sea in 2013, but with far less deadly results

A previous Lion Air flight crash landed into the sea in 2013, but with far less deadly results
IndiaTransportation3 min read
The wreckage of a crashed Lion Air plane sits on the water near the airport in Bali, Indonesia in April 2013.    AP Photo

  • Lion Air flight JT610 crashed into the sea on Monday morning, and officials say everyone on board is likely to be dead.
  • Lion Air experienced another crash into the sea in 2013, but nobody died in that incident.
  • The 2013 flight crashed just short of the runway, while the more recent sea crash took place miles out to sea.
  • The crash has put the spotlight on Lion Air and Indonesia's airlines, which were until recently banned from travelling to the EU.
  • Lion Air had just one fatal accident previously, in 2004.

Lion Air, the airline of flight JT 610 which crashed on Monday and is believed to have killed 189 people, had another plane crash into the sea in 2013 - although the results were far less deadly.

In April 2013, all 108 passengers and crew survived when a Lion Air plane missed the runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali and landed on the water, where it split in two.

Passenger Tantri Widiastuti, 60, told Indonesian TV, according to Reuters: "There was no sign at all it would fall but then suddenly it dropped into the water. I saw holes in the floor of the plane ... we were evacuated quickly."

AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati

Indonesian divers work to retrieve a Lion Air jet plane's cockpit voice recorder out of the wreckage of the plane in April 2013.

A Lion Air spokesperson at the time told Reuters that the plane "probably failed to reach the runway and fell into the sea."

While several people were taken to hospital, all 101 passengers and seven crew members on board survived.

Lion Air plane crash Bali 2013

AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati

A rescue worker works on the wreckage of the Lion Air plane near Bali's airport.

By contrast, flight JT610's crash into the sea on Monday morning is believed to have killed all 189 people on board.

The flight was much further from the airport, and hit the sea 20 minutes into the flight, bound for the island of Bangka.

Plane wreckage and body parts have been recovered from the crash site. Photos from news agencies and posted on social media show full body bags being moved at a nearby port where the rescue operation is working.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed into the sea around 6.30 a.m. local time. News agency Reuters reported: "Yusuf Latief, spokesman of national search and rescue agency, said there were likely no survivors."

Indonesia's search and rescue agency said in a statement that the reason for the crash is still unclear.

Lion Air JT610 body bag

REUTERS/Stringer

Rescue team members carry a body bag with the remains of a passenger of Lion Air flight JT610.

The crash highlighted Indonesia's air safety record. The EU had just removed Indonesia's airlines from its safety blacklist in June.

Lion Air was removed from the EU's blacklist early, in 2016, but the crash has also brought new attention to the airline's safety record.

The airline has recorded at least a dozen accidents since 2002, Quartz reported. Founded in 1999, the airline's only other fatal incident was in 2004, when an MD-82 crashed, according to Reuters.

The plane that crashed on Monday was reportedly brand new and only delivered to the airline in August.

It had a technical problem on its way to Jakarta but the issue had been resolved "according to procedure," Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group, told reporters.

Australian government officials have been formally instructed to not fly on Lion Air in light of Monday's crash, the Guardian reported.

"Following the fatal crash of a Lion Air plane on 29 October 2018, Australian government officials and contractors have been instructed not to fly on Lion Air. This decision will be reviewed when the findings of the crash investigation are clear," an email sent to officials said.

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