"DAD, I LOVE YOU EVERY DAY"
Search teams have taken up the grim task of separating human remains from plane debris and recovered personal effects, sending the body parts - including those of an infant - to hospital for DNA testing.
Among the personal effects plucked from the water was a smartphone case with the image of a couple walking hand-in-hand over a bridge.
The story went viral online as social media users tried to figure out who the couple was and if they were on the plane.
The pair were later identified as Ine Yunita Savitri and her husband Wahjoe Noegrohantoro, who was on the downed jet. Savitri was not on the plane.
On Tuesday, their daughter Samantha posted the image on her Instagram account with the words: "Dad, I love you every day".
"WORST IN THE WORLD"
The accident has resurrected concerns about Indonesia's patchy air safety record which led to a now-lifted ban on its planes entering US and European airspace.
Lion's co-founder Rusdi Kirana, now Indonesia's ambassador to Malaysia, said he had met with passengers' families and called the crisis "exhausting and saddening for everybody".
In a 2015 interview, Kirana said that "my airline is the worst in the world, but you don't have a choice".
Pilot analysis of #JT610 crash based on flight data: "Unreliable airspeed’s basically when data on the captain's side doesn’t match the co-pilot’s. You need to isolate it so it doesn’t affect the flight control system, possibly something that wasn’t done.” https://t.co/mfsM3720CM pic.twitter.com/8l1l2pxNBr
— Jack Board (@JackBoardCNA) 31 October 2018
Founded in 1999, the budget carrier capitalised on a boom in Indonesia's aviation industry, but has been plagued by safety woes and complaints over unreliable scheduling and poor service.
It has been involved in a number of incidents including a fatal 2004 crash and a collision between two Lion Air planes at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.
Indonesia's transport minister ordered an inspection of all Boeing 737-MAX aircraft on Tuesday.
Lion Air Managing Director Daniel Putut said the airline had "many questions" for the Chicago-based company and they would discuss the delivery of remaining aircraft 737-MAX models, Indonesian news website tirto.id reported.
Lion Air, Indonesia's biggest budget airline which has been engaged in huge expansion, announced earlier this year it was buying 50 Boeing-737 MAX 10 jets for US$6.24 billion.
Boeing suspended release of the fuel-efficient 737 MAX just days before its first commercial delivery last year due to an issue with engines.
But the narrow-body jet was subsequently cleared for commercial delivery and has had thousands of orders from more than 100 customers worldwide.
Boeing said it was providing technical assistance under the direction of Indonesian authorities, while the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is also helping the probe.
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