Retrieval operations are underway after the Indonesia National Transport Safety Committee located two black boxes of Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 that crashed on January 9.

The black boxes, or the flight data recorders can help in determining the cause of the plane crash.

On Sunday (January 10), Indonesian authorities said they found the location of the black boxes after retrieving several parts of the plane’s fuselage. Several bodies of the passengers were also found and retrieved.

The Sriwijaya Air Jet was carrying 62 people en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan. It disappeared from the radar a few minutes after it took flight.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered the National Transport Safety Committee to conduct an investigation into the incident.

This is the first major crash in Indonesia since 2018, where 189 passengers and crew were killed after a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max crashed into the Java sea after its take off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. AAC (with reports from Salvie Alvarez)

Malacañang is not convinced that the Philippines has surpassed Indonesia in the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

During a press briefing on Friday (August 7), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippines is conducting more COVID-19 tests which resulted in more confirmed cases.

“Ibig sabihin po dahil mas maigiting ang ating pagte-test hindi totoo na mas marami tayo kaso kaysa sa Indonesia. Hindi lamang nalalaman ng mga Indonesian kung sino-sino ang mga umiikot na mayroong sakit at least tayo alam kung sino po sila (It means we are conducting more tests. It is not true that we have more cases than Indonesia. The Indonesians don’t know who are sick at least, on our case, we know),” he said.

The Department of Health (DOH) has previously explained that the COVID-19 situation in the Philippines cannot be compared to other countries because of the population difference and health care system.

Meanwhile, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año said no country can say they have been successful in their fight against COVID-19.

“No country could ever say they are successful. Look at Japan, look at Italy, even Vietnam, and Singapore,” he said. “We focus on what we are doing is appropriate, proper, and practical rather than everyday compare yourself.” -AAC (with reports from Joan Nano)

Indonesia surpassed 100,000 cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday (July 27), reporting 1,525 new infections to take the total number to 100,303, data from the country’s Health Ministry website showed.

In Jakarta, people are worried with no clarity over the data provided by the government. “We really need the clarity from the government on the exact data of Covid-19, including the red zone area which can help us to be aware of ourselves to not go there.” Cia Teresia said, a 22-year old university student. In one of the busiest bus stations, bus workers are seen giving awareness for passengers by wearing protective suits and holding a placard with number of coronavirus cases in Jakarta.

The tally came one week after President Joko Widodo formed two new COVID-19 committees for the virus handling and the recovery of its economy.

The number of deaths in the Southeast Asian nation related to COVID-19 also increased by 57, to bring the total to 4,838, the data showed. (Reuters)

(Production: Yuddy Cahya Budiman, Angie Teo)