Indian pilot, Bhavye Suneja, commanded Lion Air flight has no survivors

The Lion Air flight JT610 that crashed on Monday morning was commanded by Delhi-born Captain Bhavye Suneja and co-pilot Harvino.

Captain Suneja, who was a resident of Mayur Vihar, Delhi, did his schooling from Ahlcon Public School in 2005. He was a trainee pilot for the Boeing 737NG and later went onto join as an airline pilot for the PT Lion Air from March 2011.

The passenger plane which was travelling from Soekarno-Hatta (Tangerang) to Pangkalpinang crashed near Kerawang on Monday morning after taking off from Jakarta Soekarno Hatta International Airport.

"The Lion Air flight JT610 en-route to Pangkalpinang has crashed near Kerawang (S 5'49.052" E 107' 06.628"), 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta Soekarno Hatta International Airport at 6:20 AM. The flight carried 178 adults, 1 child and 2 infants, including 3 crew under training and 1 technician. The aircraft is a Boeing 737 MAX 8 with registration number PK-LQP. It is made in 2018 and started its operation at Lion Air since 15 August 2018. The aircraft was declared operationally feasible. The aircraft is commanded by Captain. Bhavye Suneja and co-pilot Harvino with six cabin crew Shintia Melina, Citra Noivita Anggelia, Alviani Hidayatul Solikha, Damayanti Simarmata, Mery Yulianda, and Deny Maula. The captain has 6,000 flight hours and the co-pilot has more than 5,000 flight hours. Lion Air is concerned with the incident and will work with the relevant authorities and agencies on this matter," Lion airlines said in a statement.

According to Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), a fuel tank from the plane was recovered which was broken due to an explosion. "Nobody survived. The fuel tank has been recovered broken and exploded. Above the fuel tank there is a leak," BASARNAS spokesperson said adding that there were no survivors. In fact, media reports claimed that rescue teams had started recovering body parts of the victims.

A massive search and rescue operation was launched by the Indonesian authorities after debris of a plane were noticed by ships near the western coast of Java island fuelling speculation that the plane had possibly crashed in the sea.

Local media reported that the plane had faced technical problems during its previous flight from Denpasar to Jakarta which was resolved before its take off.