Australia restricts officials flying Lion Air after crash

The Australian government on Monday issued an instruction asking its officials and contractors not to fly on Indonesian low-cost airlines Lion Air, after one of its plane crashed into the Java Sea with 189 people on board.

"Following the fatal crash of a Lion Air plane..., Australian government officials and contractors have been instructed not to fly on Lion Air," the Australian Foreign Ministry said in a travel advisory cited by the Jakarta Post.

"This decision will be reviewed when the findings of the crash investigation are clear," it added.

The flight JT610, bound for Pangkal Pinang on the Indonesian island Bangka, disappeared from the radar 13 minutes after take off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 6.20 a.m. on Monday.

Of the 189 on board, two were pilots and six were flight attendants, the National Transportation Safety Commission said in a statement. Twenty Indonesian Finance Department officials were also on the flight.

According to reports, rescuers recovered some bodies and personal items, including baby shoes. There was no sign of survivors.

--IANS

soni/