All 101 passengers and seven crew members were safely evacuated from the budget carrier flight coming from Bandung, the capital of West Java province.
On Saturday, April 13 at 3:10 pm local time, a Lion Air 737-800 from Bandung, West Java overshot the runway in Bali and plunged into the sea. The plane was carrying 101 passengers and 7 crew members. There are no reports of casualties, outside up to 45 people with minor injuries and all passengers have been rescued safely by local authorities.
Indonesian investigators yesterday began working to determine what caused a new Lion Air passenger jet to miss a runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 on board.
The National Transportation Safety Committee is examining the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 that snapped in half before coming to a stop in shallow water near Bali’s airport on Saturday, said Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.
All 101 passengers and seven crew members were safely evacuated from the budget carrier flight coming from Bandung, the capital of West Java province. Some swam from the wreckage while others were plucked from the water by rescuers in rubber boats. Dozens suffered injuries, but most had been released from local hospitals by Sunday.
Officials said there were three foreigners on board — two Singaporeans and a French national — all of whom suffered slight injuries.
Authorities initially said the plane overshot the runway before hitting the water, but Lion Air spokesman Edward Sirait later said that the plane crashed about 50 meters (164 feet) ahead of the runway. The weather was cloudy with rain at the time of the incident.
Rapidly expanding Lion Air is Indonesia’s top discount carrier, holding about a 45 percent market share in the country, a sprawling archipelago of 240 million people that’s seeing a boom in both economic growth and air travel. The airline has been involved in six accidents since 2002, four of them involving Boeing 737s and one resulting in 25 deaths, according to the Aviation Safety Network’s website.
Lion Air is currently banned from flying to Europe due to broader safety lapses in the Indonesian airline industry that have long plagued the country. Last year, a Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet-100 slammed into a volcano during a demonstration flight, killing all 45 people on board.
Lion Air, which started flying in 2000, signed a $24 billion deal last month to buy 234 Airbus planes, the biggest order ever for the French aircraft maker. It also gave Boeing its largest-ever order when it finalized a deal for 230 planes last year. The aircraft will be delivered from 2014 to 2026 as the airline positions itself to take on AirAsia, which dominates budget travel in the region.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
