Deadly Plane Crash in Indonesia: New Updates
On Saturday, January 9, 2021, CNN reported that Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, carrying 62 people, disappeared after departing from Jakarta en route to Pontianak.
Since then, search and rescue teams in Indonesia have recovered one of two black boxes (the flight data recorder), some human remains, and wreckage from the plane in the Java Sea, according to additional reporting by CNN. It is expected to take two to five days to recover the data from the black box. Officials are continuing their search for the second black box (the cockpit voice recorder).
According to Indonesia’s Head of National Transportation Safety Committee, the plane (a Boeing 737-500) lost contact at 2:40 p.m. Western Indonesian Time (2:40 a.m. ET) that day. Records show that the plane dropped 10,000 feet in under a minute before it disappeared from the radar, which occurred about four minutes following takeoff, eerily similar to previous crashes in the region.
“It’s rather early to draw official conclusions, but absent an intentional downing or some other foul play, it is hard to imagine a plane essentially dropping like a rock shortly after takeoff — without the failure of some system or flight critical part,” said Ilyas Akbari, Wilshire Law Firm’s Director of Aviation Safety and Senior Partner, who is familiar with the region and aircraft. “These planes want to fly and it takes a lot to bring them down, so I’m suspicious. The black box data will be critical for uncovering the cause of the accident.”
The plane is believed to have crashed between the islands of Laki and Lancang in the Thousand Islands chain northwest of Jakarta. The aircraft was carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members.
About the Aircraft, Sriwijaya Air, and Indonesia’s Rocky History with Plane Safety
The plane involved in the crash is a Boeing 737-500 and is 26 years old, with registration PK-CLC (MSN 27323). According to CNN, all 51 Indonesian airlines (including Sriwijaya Air) were placed on the European Union’s list of banned air carriers starting in 2007, though they were removed from the list in June 2018.
The airlines in Indonesia were blacklisted by the EU following a Garuda Indonesia plane crash in 2007 that led to the death of 21 people after the plane overshot the runway and caught on fire.
Since then, several other deadly crashes have occurred involving airlines in Indonesia, including:
- Lion Air Flight 610, which involved a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane that crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all 189 souls onboard. It was discovered that the plane was improperly designed and certified, with Boeing purposefully not disclosinga flight critical system it had developed and implemented to counter the plane’s propensity to “nose up” during takeoff and ascent. Director of Aviation Litigation Ilyas Akbari assisted in the prosecution of the Lion Air Flight 610 civil cases in Chicago, Illinois, as the Boeing MCAS system was found to be at fault in both the Lion Air Flight 610 crash as well as the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, which occurred 5 months later in almost the same way. Indeed, only one day prior to the Sriwijaya Air crash, Boeing was levied with over $2.5 billion in payments to settle criminal charges arising out of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air Max 8 crashes.
- Air Asia Flight 8501 also crashed into the Java Sea in 2014, killing all 162 souls on board.
- In 2013, two Lion Air Boeing 737 planes crashed — one missing the runway upon landing and crashing into the sea close to Bali, and another that hit a cow while landing at an airport on the island of Sulawesi.
The region has been hit hard, with neighboring Malaysia seeing its own deadly crashes:
- Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: A Boeing 777-200ER went missing on March 8, 2014 after it took off from Kuala Lampur en route to Beijing. While the main body of the aircraft was never found, many parts of it were found scattered in oceans throughout the world. Akbari traveled to Beijing and met with many of the families affected from this tragedy, and was proud to represent the families of 10 passenger victims, out of the 239 passengers that went missing that day.
- Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: On July 17, 2014, another Boeing 777-200ER crashed when it was shot down by a surface to air missile while flying over a known war zone, the Ukraine, which tragically killed all 298 people on board.
Aviation Accident Lawyers Available to Assist Families of Victims
The plane crash attorneys at Wilshire Law Firm are available to assist families of the victims of the Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 crash near Jakarta, Indonesia.
The attorneys from our aviation litigation team have handled hundreds of aviation cases, involving some of the most notable plane and helicopter crashes from all over the globe. With a team that is led by an experienced aviation accident attorney who is also a bioengineer, we bring specialized knowledge to the cases we handle, which is why other attorneys from all over the world turn to us to help with the most challenging cases.
We also have relationships with the likely insurance adjusters for the airlines. Having settled many cases in the region, it is most likely that Allianz is the major insurance carrier, based out of Singapore. No matter the insurer, all in the region recognize the excellent investigation and advocacy that our aviation lawyers bring to the table, and for that they pay a premium.
If you lost a loved one in the Sriwijaya Air plane crash, our team is ready to assist you. We can help you take swift action against the airline any other at-fault parties and recover the compensation you and your family deserve.
For a free consultation, call us today at (888) 653-1664 or complete our online contact form.