JAKARTA (JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK. XINHUA) - For 60-year-old Ramlan Manik and his family, news of Monday's crash of Lion Air Flight JT610 came as a bolt from the blue. His son-in-law Rudi Lumbantoruan was on board the plane which crashed on Monday morning (Oct 29) shortly after take-off from Jakarta Airport. The plantation manager was returning to Pangkal Pinang in Bangka Belitung province after celebrating his 11th wedding anniversary with his wife and two children in his hometown Sibolga, North Sumatra, two days ago. It was to be his last trip home. There was going to be a wedding in the family and Mr Rudi got his sister-in-law a pair of shoes as her wedding gift. Mr Ramlan still remembered Mr Rudi's last words to the bride-to-be: "This is a present for you, a pair of shoes, in case I won't be able to come home for your wedding because I have used all of my annual leave days." The Lion Air Flight JT610 was the earliest available flight from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang with a departure time of 6.20am, making it popular among people working in the city. Among the passengers were government officials with Indonesia's Finance Ministry, the Supreme Audit Agency and the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, as well as local councillors. Related Story Lion Air flight crashes into sea: Follow latest updates Related Story How could a brand new plane have crashed in Indonesia? With the Indonesian authorities all but ruling out finding any survivors, many family members and friends were in deep sorrow and shock on Monday night. Many sobbed while waiting for updates on the search efforts at a crisis centre set up by Lion Air at the Halim Perdanakusumah Airport maintenance office in East Jakarta. The 189 people on board Flight JT610 included two infants, one child, two pilots, six flight attendants and 20 Finance Ministry staff who were in Jakarta for a commemorative event last Saturday. The discovery of body parts suggested a high impact crash in water some 30m to 40m deep off the coast of Indonesia's Java island. Ms Kezia Saroinsong, 26, with her head bowed in grief, was among those who were waiting for news of their loved ones at the crisis centre at the Halim Perdanakusumah Airport. Her younger brother Hizkia Jorry Saroinsong, 23, was on the plane. "He updated us in the family group chat before he departed in the morning. It was the last thing we heard from him," she said. Mr Hizkia, a student of the University of Indonesia, was travelling from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang to attend an event as a representative of AIESEC, an international non-profit youth organisation focused on developing leadership skills. "He travelled all the time," Ms Kezia told The Jakarta Post on Monday. "He just got back from Bandung last weekend before travelling to the scheduled event in Pangkal Pinang." Ms Kezia initially held high hopes that her brother might have survived the crash, but as the day dragged on, she went quiet, perhaps realising that the chances of him surviving the crash were low. Mr Alvian, an official from state-owned insurance firm Jasa Raharja, said over 100 people had arrived at the crisis centre to get information on the fate of their loved ones. Some decided to remain at the centre to wait, while others like 40-year-old Dewi chose to go home and monitor the TV news after waiting for two hours. Her cousin, Mr Man Sihombing, was on the flight. He worked as an area manager at the Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang. She said Mr Man had divided his time between Jakarta and Pangkal Pinang, as his family lived on the outskirt of the capital. "He usually flew to Jakarta on weekends to see his wife and three kids and catch the earliest flight on Monday morning so he could go back to work," she said. Travelling to and fro between the two cities was part of Mr Man's routine, but the last trip was rather special for the family because he had come back especially to attend his son's confirmation ceremony. At a hospital's Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) section in East Jakarta, relatives and friends of the victims kept their eyes glued to the TV screens as they anxiously awaited updates of the accident. They were here to collect the personal things of their loved ones who took the ill-fated Lion Air Flight JT610. Some were sobbing, and some were being consoled by their relatives or friends. Among them was 30-year-old Indra Wicaksana, an employee of India's prominent telecom firm Telkomsel. His colleague Tami Julian was listed a victim. He said he could not imagine losing a good friend in such a tragic way. They last chatted last Friday. "He flew to Jakarta to take part in the Jakarta Marathon event on Sunday morning and went back to work in Tanjung Pinang on Monday morning," Mr Indra told Xinhua. Mr Indra recalled the moment when he had to break the news of Mr Tami's death to the latter's parents. "They did not say anything but I heard sobbing from a refrained cry on the phone," he said. The parents were on their way to Jakarta in the hope of seeing their son for the last time. Rescuers have recovered 10 body bags containing human remains, including possibly that of a baby. More than 130 family members of people on board Lion Air JT610 have provided DNA data to the authorities to assist in the identification of victims.<doc-sep>It is also possible, experts said, that the type of plane involved in the crash — the Boeing 737 Max 8, which entered commercial service only around a year and a half ago — may have another flaw that had not manifested itself in other fleets before because it is so new. [Here’s a look into Indonesia’s troubling aviation safety record.] Pilots and aviation analysts, however, cautioned that they had not heard chatter about any such problem afflicting other Max 8 planes. So could this be another case of lax safety and maintenance standards in Indonesia? Lion Air has a troubling air-safety record, with at least 15 major incidents. The company’s spate of problems mirrored a surge in crashes that afflicted the entire Indonesian aviation industry, causing Western nations to ban Indonesian carriers. Pilots who worked for Lion Air and its competitors in Indonesia said training for flight and ground crews sometimes did not keep up with the latest developments in new planes. And aviation experts have raised questions about whether pilots like Bhavye Suneja, the captain of Flight 610, are given adequate training in flying planes during emergency conditions or in handling new technology like that in the Max 8. The 737 Max family of planes is Boeing’s fastest-selling in history, the company said, with nearly 4,700 orders worldwide. Indonesian transport authorities said they had ordered an inspection of all the Max 8 jets operated by domestic carriers. On Tuesday, Mr. Ony, the Indonesian safety investigator, said the immediate priority was finding the so-called black boxes — the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — which may offer critical information about what happened in the final minutes of the flight.<doc-sep>
The tragedy of an Indonesian passenger plane that crashed into the ocean on Monday, leaving little chance of survival for all 189 people aboard, has reached the cycling community. Andrea Manfredi, a 26-year-old former pro rider from Massa, Italy, was aboard Lion Air Flight JT 610 when it crashed into the Java Sea minutes after takeoff, according to reports. Manfredi’s former UCI Continental team, Bardiani-CSF, announced his death on Monday, and the Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed his place among the deceased passengers to multiple Italian and Indonesian newspapers. “Management, athletes, staff, and team sponsors express their condolences to the family and to all those dear to Andrea,” the team said in a post on its website. “The memory of a serious guy in love with his sport will remain indelible in the minds of all those who, in these years, have had the good fortune to know him. Rest in peace, Andrea.” Manfredi raced at an elite level for about eight years. He spent the 2013 season with now-defunct Ceramica Flaminia-Fondriest team and the following two seasons with Bardiani-CSF. He finished third overall at the Giro della Valle d’Aosta in 2012 and fifth overall at the Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia in 2013. In 2015, he left the professional road circuit to launch Sportek, a bike technology company. According to Milanese newspaper Corriere della Sera, Manfredi left Italy on October 17 for “a new cycling adventure,” and was due to return a few days after the crash occurred. His Instagram account documents travels in East Asia as early as October 19, when he posted about a visit to Hong Kong. Several other posts place him in Indonesia over the past three days, including three photos posted Sunday of Manfredi biking in Jakarta, where Flight JT 610 took off. Indonesian authorities are still searching for passengers across a wide crash zone several miles off the coast of Java. The routine 6:30 a.m. flight was 13 minutes into an hour-long trip to the Indonesian city of Pangkal Pinang when the pilot asked for permission to turn back. Shortly after, air traffic controllers saw a sharp drop in altitude before the plane disappeared from radar. Indonesian authorities say survivors are unlikely. Jacob Meschke Contributing Writer Jacob joined Runner’s World and Bicycling as an editorial fellow after graduating from Northwestern University in 2018, where he studied journalism.