Indonesia will extend by three days its search for the bodies of passengers from the ill-fated Lion Air plane, an official said Wednesday, as authorities struggle to identify victims of the crash. The Lion Air plane was en route from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang city on Sumatra island ten days ago when it plunged into the water, killing all 189 people onboard. Search teams have filled some 186 body bags with remains found after the devastating crash, but only 44 victims have been identified so far, Muhammad Syaugi, the head of the national search and rescue agency said at a press conference. The navy, police and volunteers that have also been involved in the search will be stood down, he added. Hundreds of mourners aboard a pair of Indonesian navy vessels tossed bouquets and scattered flower petals into the Java Sea on Tuesday, near the spot where the brand new jet crashed. Divers have retrieved the plane’s engines, wheels and one of its two black boxes — the flight data recorder — but are still searching for the cockpit voice recorder. A preliminary report on the cause of the accident is expected at the end of the month. The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee said Monday that flight recorder data has so far revealed the plane’s air speed indicator had not been working properly on its last four journeys, including on the fatal flight. The JT610 flight sped up as it suddenly lost altitude and then vanished from radar just minutes after take-off. Boeing issued a special bulletin Wednesday addressing a sensor problem flagged by Indonesian safety officials investigating the crash of a Lion Air 737 that killed 189 people last week. The planemaker said local aviation officials believed pilots may have been given wrong information by the plane’s automated systems before the fatal crash. “The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee has indicated that Lion Air flight 610 experienced erroneous input from one of its AOA (Angle of Attack) sensors,” the warning said. “Boeing issued an Operations Manual Bulletin (OMB) directing operators to existing flight crew procedures to address circumstances where there is erroneous input from an AOA sensor.” An AOA sensor provides data about the angle at which wind is passing over the wings and tells pilots how much lift a plane is getting. Lion Air JT610 plunged into the Java Sea less than half an hour after taking off from Jakarta on a routine flight to Pangkal Pinang city. There were no survivors. Search teams have filled some 186 body bags with remains found after the devastating crash, but only 44 victims have been identified so far. Divers have recovered one of the two “black boxes” — the flight data recorder — but are still searching for the cockpit voice recorder, in the hope it will shed more light on the cause of the disaster. Published in Daily Times, November 8th 2018.