KARAWANG, Indonesia — Pope Francis has conveyed his condolences to those affected by the crash of a jetliner minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s capital, likely killing all 189 people on board.
The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said in a telegram to the Vatican’s representative in Indonesia that the pope “offers the assurance of his prayers for all who have died and for those who mourn their loss” following Monday’s crash.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency says it’s not expecting to find survivors from the plane that plunged into seas off Jakarta just 13 minutes after takeoff.
Friends and relatives have offered their condolences to the parents of the Indian pilot who was flying the Lion Air plane.
After receiving friends and relatives who rushed to their New Delhi home upon hearing news of the crash, the parents of pilot Bhavye Suneja left for New Delhi’s airport to board a flight for the Indonesian capital.
“Please pray for us,” Suneja’s sobbing mother said as she got into a car.
A family friend, Anil Gupta, said Suneja’s father was stunned and couldn’t talk, and his sister and mother had not come out of their rooms.
The European Commission says it has no immediate plans to ban Lion Air again — all Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns. The ban was lifted for Lion Air in June 2016 and the countrywide ban was lifted completely in June this year.
Commission spokesman Enrico Brivio said Monday that there “have been no indications that the safety levels at Lion Air or the safety oversight in Indonesia” were deteriorating.
Brivio says the commission will analyze the results of the investigation into Monday’s crash.
