Lion Air aircraft had yet to touchdown on runway

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Archipelago | Sat, April 13 2013, 9:15 PM

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In good condition?: Lion Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which serves the Bandung-Denpasar route, crashed and fell into waters as it tried to land at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Saturday. No casualties were reported but dozens sustained injuries. (JP/Zul T.Edoardo)


Lion Air general affairs director Edward Sirait said that Lion Air Flight number JT-960, which serves the Bandung-Denpasar route, had not touched down on the runway of Ngurah Rai International Airport before it fell into waters in an accident on Saturday.
“When it tried to land at the airport, the aircraft was not able to reach the runway due to the incident,” he said in a press conference at the Lion Air office on Saturday evening.
The aircraft, with registration number PK-LKS, carried 101 passengers, comprising 95 adult passengers, 5 children and a baby. Seven crew members were on board. All passengers and crew members were safe.
“No lives were loss in the accident. The evacuation process was jointly conducted by the crew members and the passengers,” said Edward.
After being evacuated, the passengers were taken to the emergency post at the airport. Eighteen passengers were taken to Sanglah Hospital and other hospitals to undergo medical examinations.
Edward said the Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft had just been received by the airline in March. He added the aircraft was piloted by Ghozali, whom he claimed to have had more than 10,000 flying hours.
Edward said that Lion Air management was not yet able to answer questions in regards to the cause of the accident. “It would be wrong for us to answer the question,” he went on. He also said that he was not yet informed on the chronology of the accident.
“About the weather, data we received said that there was rainfall. But we are still waiting for information on this matter from the meteorology [Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics] agency,” Edward said as quoted by tempo.co. (nai/ebf)

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