News Desk |
An Indonesian diver died while recovering body parts from the ill-fated Lion Aeroplane, which crashed into the sea killing 189 people, an official said on Saturday.
Syachrul Anto, 48, who died on Friday, was part of the team searching for body parts and debris from the jet in the Java Sea.
“He was a volunteer with the Search and Rescue Agency,” Isswarto, commander of the Indonesian navy’s search and rescue division, told AFP. It is believed he died from decompression, he added.
Anto had previously served in Palu which suffered from an earthquake and tsunami in September and also took part in the evacuation process of an Air Asia plane crash nearly four years ago.
It plunged into the water just minutes after takeoff, killing everyone on board.
Read more: Indonesia military chief ‘strongly believes’ crashed jet found
At least 73 bags containing body parts have been retrieved from the waters so far but only four have been identified.
Founded in 1999, Lion Air is a budget airline operating in Indonesia and in some parts of Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
But it has been plagued by safety concerns and customer complaints over unreliable scheduling and poor service.
The carrier has been involved in a number of incidents including a fatal 2004 crash and a collision between two Lion Air planes at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport.