TV One, an Indonesian news channel, was panned on social media websites after it showed footage of the bodies and at the same time, showed the live reaction of families of the passengers. At least two family members were carted out of the room in Surabaya, Indonesia, where they were waiting for news on their loved ones.
There have been questions about how the plane disappeared and crashed. One seems to center on the pilot’s decision to not make a distress call.
As pilot and author Patrick Smith notes, “effectively it means nothing.”
“Communicating with air traffic control is pretty far down the task hierarchy when dealing with an emergency. The pilots’ priority is to control the airplane and deal with whatever malfunction or urgency is at hand. Talking to [air traffic control] comes later, if it’s practical,” he wrote.
The vast majority of the passengers were Indonesian, who were likely going to Singapore for the holidays. Haidar Fauzie, 60, said his daughter Khairunnisa Haidar was a flight attendant on the plane.
“From the start, we already knew the risks associated with being a stewardess,” Fauzie said. “She is beautiful and smart. It has always been her dream to fly. We couldn’t have stopped her.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
