REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- JAKARTA -- Operational Director of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Brigadier General Marine Bambang Suryo asserted the process of searching and rescuing victims of Lion Air flight JT610 accident to be carried out for 24 hours. The search would be conducted for the next seven days.

"There are no obstacles in the evacuation and our ships will be deployed at night," he said on Monday afternoon.

Basarnas has deployed KRI Rigel at 15.00 pm to help search for victims. According to Bambang, the scope of evacuation areas and spread of plane wreckage reached 150 nautical miles.

The Navy and Basarnas divers also have been involved in the search process. Fourty divers deployed to search victims floating in the sea while searching for the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.

Until late in the afternoon, several pieces of the aircraft's tail and bodies of the victims have been found. The fragments did not show any signs of burning.

Also read: Jokowi instructs immediate SAR for Lion Air victims

Earlier, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has instructed to conduct immediate search and rescue operation for victims of Lion Air flight JT610 that crashed on early Monday morning minutes after taking off from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. He expressed his condolences to the families of victims of the aircraft accident.

"I feel a deep concern for all families of the victims. However, we hope the families would calm down while waiting for the SAR team to do their work on the field," the president stated at a press conference on the sidelines of the Our Ocean Conference 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Monday.

Jokowi has ordered the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), the military, and police to conduct search and rescue operation to find the victims. He also instructed the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) to investigate the aircraft crash and obtain results as soon as possible.

"We are doing our best to find and save the victims, and I continue to pray and hope the victims would be found soon," Jokowi noted.

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