All 189 aboard Indonesian Boeing are ‘likely’ dead

All 189 people on board the ill-fated Indonesian Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane, which crashed in the sea on Monday, have “likely” died, search and rescue officials announced.

“I predict there are no survivors, based on body parts found so far,” the chief of the nation’s search and rescue agency, Bambang Suryo, said.

The official stated that the operation to locate and recover the wreckage continues.

The packed Lion Air flight JT610 lost contact with ground control 13 minutes after takeoff in Jakarta. Debris from the aircraft as well as passengers’ personal belongings were located floating in the Java Sea, as a massive rescue team was deployed to the crash site.