Lion Air Crash: Body Of Indian Pilot Bhavye Suneja Identified

The body of Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja who captained the Lion Air  Flight 610 that crashed last month has been identified by Indonesian authorities. The aircraft, which took off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, for Pangkal Pinang, crashed into the sea with 189 people on board, including eight crew members. around 23 government officials were also on board the plane, according to Lion Air.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took to Twitter to announce about the identification of Suneja’s body. The body was cremated by Suneja’s family members in Indonesia on Friday.

“Indonesian authorities have confirmed identification of the body of Capt. Bhavya Suneja. The remains will be handed over to the family in the presence of @IndianEmbJkt today. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family,” the tweet read, reported The Times Of India.

The 31-year-old Suneja was from Delhi. He completed his studies at Ahlcon Public School in Mayur Vihar and received his flying license in 2009. He married in 2016 and was based in Jakarta.

According to Lion Air, Captain Suneja was piloting the aircraft with co-pilot Harvino, who together had a combined total of 11,000 hours flying time. The pilots were assisted by flight attendants Alviani Hidayatul Solikha, Damayanti Simarmata, Mery Yulianda, Deny Maula, Shintia Melina, and Citra Noivita Anggelia. Three of the cabin crew members were in training.

A new report released by Indonesian investigators has found the Lion Air pilots dealt with multiple malfunctions almost as soon as the doomed flight began. The report states that the pilots faced a screeching of warnings that started seconds after the plane took off and continued for the remaining 11 minutes before the crash.

The alerts included a so-called stick shaker that warns pilots of a danger of losing lift on the wings and instruments that registered different readings for the captain and copilot.