17 victims identified in Indonesia's Sriwijaya plane crash

Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) investigators inspect debris found in the waters around the location where a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet crashed, Indonesia, January 15, 2021. /AP

Indonesian investigators announced on Friday that a total of 17 victims have been identified in seven days of search and rescue operation after a Sriwijaya Air plane crashed with 62 people on board shortly after takeoff on January 9.

The joint team is still looking for the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the Boeing type aircraft, and the reason for the crash is still under investigation.

"Today we get 33 body bags, 6 bags of small parts of the plane and 11 large pieces of the fuselage. So that the total we have obtained during these seven days is 272 body bags of 46 bags of the victim's body parts. Big pieces of the plane are 50 pieces," said Kabasarnas Bagus Puruhito at a press conference at the main post of Jakarta International Container Terminal, Tanjung Priok, Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the Police's Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team again managed to identify five Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 passengers. This brings the number of confirmed dead in the disaster to 17 people. Relatives of four victims have claimed their remains for burial.