JAKARTA: Indonesia will hasten the release of its report on the October crash of Lion Air Boeing 737, the head of the nation’s transport safety committee said on Friday.
The crash, which killed all 189 people on board, was the first worldwide of Boeing Co’s new 737 MAX jet. A second deadly incident occurred on Sunday with the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines MAX jet that killed all 157 people on board.
Soerjanto, the head of safety agency KNKT, told Reuters the investigation into the Lion Air crash would be speeded up and the report will be released in July-August, earlier than its original timeline of August-September.
The cause of the Indonesian crash is still being investigated. A preliminary report by KNKT in November, before the retrieval of the cockpit voice recorder, focused on maintenance and training and the response of a Boeing anti-stall system to a recently replaced sensor, but gave no reason for the crash.
Indonesia plans to send a flight inspector and an official from KNKT to Ethiopia to help with the probe into Sunday’s crash, pending approval from Ethiopian authorities, Soerjanto said.
“Yesterday morning, we communicated with Boeing, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board in Ethiopia, but we have yet to exchange information,” Soerjanto said, adding that they had requested the results of the investigation into the plane’s black boxes.
“As there is no certainty from Boeing and FAA, we will continue to advocate for the Boeing Max 8 planes to stay grounded.”
USlawmakers said on Thursday that Boeing Co’s 737 MAX 8 and 9 planes will be grounded for weeks if not longer until a software upgrade can be tested and installed, as officials in France prepared to begin analyzing the black boxes from a jet that crashed in Ethiopia.
Indonesia to speed up release of Lion Air crash report
Indonesia to speed up release of Lion Air crash report
- The decisions comes days after an Ethiopian Airlines flight with the same aircraft crashed
- Indonesia plans to send a flight inspector and an official from KNKT to Ethiopia to help with the probe
Pakistanis fleeing Iran describe strikes shaking ground under their feet
- Nearly 1,000 students, businessmen and pilgrims have fled Iran since the war started out of a total 35,000 Pakistanis in the country
QUETTA: Pakistanis fleeing Iran described explosions and missile strikes across Tehran shaking the ground under their feet and engulfing buildings in fire and smoke in a city emptied of many of its residents. The conflict has widened sharply, with a US submarine sinking an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on Wednesday and NATO air defenses destroying an Iranian missile fired toward Turkiye.
Governments have been scrambling to evacuate stranded citizens, with most of the region’s airspace closed due to the risk of missiles hitting passenger planes.
“I was in the classroom when a powerful explosion rocked our university building,” Hareem Zahra, 23, a student at the Tehran University of Engineering, told Reuters after crossing Pakistan’s land border with Iran.
“We saw thick smoke coming from many buildings on fire,” she said, adding Tehran was under attack until the moment she left.
TEHRAN LOOKED DESERTED
Nearly 1,000 students, businessmen and pilgrims have fled Iran since the war started out of a total 35,000 Pakistanis in the country, Mudassir Tipu, Pakistan’s ambassador to Tehran, said.
“There are now serious challenges. As you know there is no Internet in most parts of Iran,” he said. Iran has retaliated with a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and Washington’s allies in the Gulf, including Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, following US and Israeli air strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Tehran has looked deserted since the conflict began, said Nadir Abbas, 25, a student of Persian literature at a university in the Iranian capital.
“I saw a drone hit a basketball court where six girl players lost their lives.”
Reuters could not verify his account.
DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE
Islamabad is walking a diplomatic tightrope as it attempts to maintain warming ties with Washington while expressing solidarity with Iran.
Pakistan is home to the second-largest Shiite population in the world after Iran and being drawn into the conflict could lead to instability at home as well as complications evacuating its citizens.
“The first attack happened right next to my hospital,” said Sakhi Aun Mohammad, a student at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. After he reached the border, an Iranian friend called to check if he was safe, saying: “’Thank God, you have gone to Pakistan, all of you are safe, but your hostel has been attacked’.” A Pakistani diplomat who is still in Tehran said attacks took place every four or five hours, adding one missile struck a building next to his office. “At times you will feel as if something exploded right at your feet,” he said. “The last time I got out was at night. Buildings had collapsed, some others were on fire. There is destruction everywhere.”
He added: “It is almost like a ghost town.”
