REPORT ON THE SILK AIR CRASH

Mr Shriniwas Rai asked the Minister for Communications if he will give the House an up to date report on the Silk Air crash.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Investigations on the crash led by the Indonesian Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC) is still in progress, with the full support of the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Australian Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI).

The investigator-in-charge, Professor Oetarjo Diran briefed the next-of-kins and issued a press release on 18th December last month to provide an update on the status of investigation. So far, no indication was found that air traffic control, weather, maintenance, terrorist acts, or hazardous material was a factor contributing to the accident. As I have explained to the House previously, investigation is progressing very slowly because of the high degree of destruction to the aircraft and the lack of useful information from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

The AAIC expects that the investigation is likely to continue well into 1999.