North Sumatra, Indonesia – Households and associates of the passengers on Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 which crashed into the Java Sea quickly after takeoff on Saturday have spoken concerning the lethal incident, saying they nonetheless have hope regardless of the aircraft’s flight recorders, which file cockpit voice and flight information, being positioned.
5 members of Yudi Qurdani’s household have been among the many 62 individuals on board the aircraft – in accordance with the flight’s manifest – which misplaced contact with air site visitors management simply 4 minutes after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta Worldwide Airport in Jakarta.
The aircraft’s vacation spot was Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island, about 740km (460 miles) away.
Qurdani’s uncle Toni Ismail, aunt Rahmawati, and cousin Ratih Windania have been flying again to Pontianak from a household vacation in Bandung in Java, together with Ratih’s daughter, four-year-old Yumna Fani Syatuzahr. Qurdani’s eight-year-old nephew Athar Rizki Riawan was additionally travelling with them, though his dad and mom had stayed again in Pontianak.
They weren’t even presupposed to be on the aircraft.
“They purchased tickets to fly again to Pontianak on [Saturday] at 7am on NAM Air,” Qurdani advised Al Jazeera.
“However the night time earlier than, the airline advised us that the flight had been modified to 1:30pm and that it will be a Sriwijaya Air aircraft. They only did what they have been advised and went to the airport within the afternoon.”
The household suspects that NAM Air, which is a subsidiary of Sriwijaya Air, transferred the passengers to the later flight as a consequence of low ticket gross sales.
The merged flights additionally meant that the Sriwijaya Air aircraft was carrying six additional crew from the cancelled NAM Air flight, together with Captain Didik Gunardi, First Officer Fadly Satrianto and 4 cabin crew.
On Sunday, Indonesia’s Nationwide Search and Rescue Company (Basarnas) launched images of officers recovering particles and different gadgets from the suspected crash website, together with a toddler’s pink T-shirt, which Qurdani believes belonged to Yumna.
“She was not carrying it when she left, however her mom had packed it in her suitcase. She wore it typically, so we recognised it without delay once we noticed it on TV. We’re 80 p.c positive that it’s her T-shirt,” he mentioned.
Earlier than she boarded the aircraft to Pontianak, Yumna’s mom, Windania, posted a sequence of Instagram tales of the household strolling by the airport, certainly one of which was captioned: “Bye bye all my household … We’re going house ya.”
The posts have since gone viral, with members of the general public leaving messages of condolence.
Qurdani, talking to Al Jazeera from Kramat Jati Police Hospital in Jakarta the place the household has gathered to attend for information and help with the identification course of, mentioned Athar’s dad and mom have already given DNA samples in Pontianak, and Ismail and Rahmawati’s household have given samples in Jakarta.
“We additionally noticed on TV that they’ve discovered the black bins and we simply hope there are survivors. We are going to proceed to hope and ask for assist from God that they’re alive,” he mentioned.
“However we’re additionally getting ready ourselves for something, even the worst. We hope we are able to deal with no matter is coming.”
In keeping with the flight manifest, the aircraft was carrying six crew members and 46 grownup passengers, seven kids and three infants, together with Rizki Wahyudi, his spouse Indah Halimah Putri, mother-in-law Rosi Wahyuni, and three-month-old daughter, Nabila Anjani.
Wahyudi labored at Gunung Palung Nationwide Park in West Kalimantan in accordance with the Indonesian Forest Rangers (PolHut) who confirmed the information by their WhatsApp channel.
He additionally typically met with native NGOs together with the Indonesian Discussion board for the Atmosphere (WALHI) the place he was targeted on initiatives to assist the atmosphere and was notably serious about orangutan conservation, a supply who didn’t want to be named advised Al Jazeera.
His cousin, Ebta, advised native media that Wahyudi had travelled to Jakarta to deliver his spouse and daughter again to Pontianak.
His spouse had been isolating whereas pregnant in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, in accordance with Ebta, which is why she had not travelled to Pontianak when Wahyudi had first been stationed on the nationwide park.
‘Simply married’
Additionally on the flight have been Mulyadi P Tamsir and his spouse Makrufatul Yeti.
The couple had simply married final month and have been on their manner from Jakarta, the place they lived, to Mulyadi’s hometown in Pontianak in order that he may introduce his new spouse to his prolonged household, mentioned Alwi Hasbi Silalahi, the top of the Muslim Pupil’s Affiliation (HMI), North Sumatra and Mulyadi’s former colleague and buddy.
Mulyadi was the top of HMI Indonesia from 2016 to 2018, however had left to work for Hanura, certainly one of Indonesia’s political events, and Silalahi mentioned the information of the downed aircraft had created an outpouring of grief all through the HMI neighborhood.
“The final time I spoke to Mulyadi was about his wedding ceremony. Then the subsequent factor I hear is that he was on the aircraft,” Silalahi advised Al Jazeera, including that he was shocked when he heard that the aircraft had misplaced contact with air site visitors management.
“All his associates are so unhappy to listen to this information, particularly as he simply bought married and was about to start out a household. We’re praying for him and his security. All of HMI throughout Indonesia is in mourning and we’re praying as exhausting as we are able to.”
Silalahi added {that a} particular prayer occasion had been organised on-line for Sunday night in order that HMI members throughout the nation may pray collectively just about for his protected restoration.
“We hope he’s nonetheless alive,” he mentioned. “We’re simply ready.”