New Delhi: Delhi based Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja, was the captain of Indonesian carrier Lion Air’s Boeing 737 Max + that has crashed into the sea today taking down 189 people on board.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency has confirmed crash reports of Lion Air flight JT610 bound to Pangkal Pinang from Jakarta.
The agency said the airplane has lost contact with ground officials 13 minutes after takeoff and that a boat leaving the capital’s port saw it fall, TOI reported.
Muhammad Syaugi agency head said: “We don’t know yet whether there are any survivors.” He added that no distress signal had been received from the aircraft’s emergency transmitter. “We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm.”
“We are there already, our vessels, our helicopter is hovering above the waters, to assist,” Syaugi said. “We are trying to dive down to find the wreck.”
Indian pilot Suneja had joined Lion Air in 2011. He was a resident of Mayur Vihar and had passed out from Ahlcon Public School in 2005.
He later went on to join Indonesian Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) Lion Air in March 2011 where he flies the Boeing 737.
According to reports, Suneja, 31, was considering to return back to his home land.
“We spoke this July. He is a very sweet sounding person. Being an experienced pilot of the B737 with an incident, accident-free record, we were keen to have him with us because of his good credentials. His only request was that he wanted a Delhi posting as he is from the city,” said the senior official.
“Since most of the pilots are from north India and they want Delhi posting, I told him that once he flies with us for a year we will consider his posting in Delhi. He wanted our assistance in getting an Indian ATPL (commander’s licence). Some other pilots from Lion Air have also joined us recently,” said the official.
“We all hope and pray that Suneja and all others on the plane survive. We are all praying right now,” the senior official of the Indian carrier said.