Strong currents are hampering efforts to recover bodies from the Singaporean SilkAir jetliner which crashed into a river in south Sumatra.

And salvage workers have recovered only fragments of the Boeing 737-300 because tides have shifted a major part of the wreckage.

The aeroplane mysteriously crashed over Sumatra midway on a flight to Singapore from Jakarta on Friday with the loss of all 104 passengers and crew.

The plane is stuck in mud near the Musi river close to Palembang in Indonesia.

Officials in charge of the recovery operation thought they had located a major chunk of the fuselage of the plane on Saturday but strong currents and tides, washing in from the sea, have since shifted the wreckage.

The rescue teams had been planning to hoist the fuselage free to get to the passengers and crew.

Divers who are searching the murky waters of the Musi have found only dismembered bodies.

Silkair spokesman Gerry Stevens: wreckage discovered (1'58")

Witnesses to the crash said they heard a loud bang before the plane fell to earth. Some air industry analysts are treating the observation with caution because it is not uncommon for witnesses to think they hear an aerial explosion during a plane crash when there was none.

They are being watched by families of the passengers who hired speedboats to travel to the scene of the plane's impact.

A group of relatives of the Singaporean passengers paid their last respects by praying together and singing hymns at the scene.

However, some relatives of those who were aboard the flight have begun to lose hope of finding the bodies of their loved ones, an airline official said.

"Many now realise that there is only a thin hope," said Manjit Singh Grewa.

Cause still unclear

Singapore's Communications Minister, Mah Bow Tan, said: "We don't have any information on what transpired.

"As far as we know there were no adverse weather conditions."

The flight recorders, which often contains vital information as to the cause of air disasters, has not yet been recovered.

Witnesses say they heard a loud bang from the sky

SilkAir has released a list of passenger names flying on the airliner.

Passengers included 40 Singaporeans, 23 Indonesians, 10 Malaysians, five Americans, five French, four Germans and three Britons.

There were also two Japanese, a Bosnian, an Austrian, an Indian a Taiwanese and an Australian.

Relatives have been flown to Palmebang to wait for news

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said they lost radio contact with the flight at 5.15pm Singapore time (09:15 GMT) on Friday.

The plane was identified as the missing SilkAir aircraft at 9.40pm (13:40 GMT).

SilkAir is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and flies mostly south-east Asian routes.

The plane was the newest in the airline's fleet and only came into service 10 months ago.
 

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©