All onboard survive Lion Air jet crash off Bali

BALI, Indonesia -- All 108 passengers and crew survived after a new Lion Air jet crashed into the ocean and snapped in two while attempting to land Saturday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, injuring as many as 45 people.

The injured were taken to hospitals for treatment, but there appeared to be no serious injuries, said airport spokesman Alfasyah, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. There were three foreigners on board -- two Singaporeans and a French national -- all of whom suffered slight injuries.

TV footage showed police and rescuers using rubber boats to evacuate the 101 passengers and seven crew members. The Boeing 737 could be seen sitting in the shallow water with a large crack in its fuselage.

Officials initially said the plane overshot the runway before hitting the water, but a spokesman for Lion Air, a low-cost carrier, said at a news conference that the plane crashed about 164 feet before the runway. The weather was cloudy with rain when the crash happened.

"It apparently failed to reach the runway and fell into the sea," said the spokesman, Edward Sirait.

He said the Boeing 737-800 Next Generation plane was received by the airline last month and was declared airworthy. The plane originated in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, and had landed in two other cities Saturday before the afternoon crash.

"We are not in a capacity to announce the cause of the crash," Sirait said, adding that the National Safety Transportation Committee was investigating.

Those on board recalled being terrified as the plane slammed into the water.

"The aircraft was in landing position when suddenly I saw it getting closer to the sea, and finally it hit the water," said Dewi, a passenger who sustained head wounds in the crash and uses one name.

"All of the passengers were screaming in panic in fear they would drown. I left behind my belongings and went to an emergency door," she said. "I got out of the plane and swam before rescuers jumped in to help me."

Rapidly expanding Lion Air is Indonesia's top discount carrier, with about a 50 percent market share in the country, a sprawling archipelago of 240 million people that's seeing a boom in economic growth and air travel. The airline has been involved in six accidents since 2002, four of them involving Boeing 737s and one resulting in 25 deaths, according to the Aviation Safety Network's website.

Lion Air is banned from flying to Europe because of broader safety lapses in the Indonesian airline industry that have long plagued the country. Last year, a Sukhoi Superjet-100 slammed into a volcano during a demonstration flight, killing all 45 people on board.