Jakarta. Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono briefly lost consciousness on Sunday while presiding over a ceremony to hand over the remains of victims of the ATR 42-500 plane crash to their families.

The incident occurred at the ministry’s fisheries business training academy in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, where the handover ceremony was taking place. Trenggono received medical attention at the venue and was later declared to be in stable condition.

“He is conscious and doing fine. It was simply exhaustion,” Deputy Fisheries Minister Didit Herdiawan said.

Didit subsequently took over the ceremony, which involved the handover of the remains of pilot Captain Andy Dahananto and two ministry employees, Ferry Irawan and Yoga Naufal. They were among the victims of the ATR 42-500 crash in South Sulawesi on Jan. 17.

The aircraft was carrying 10 people — seven crew members and three passengers — and there were no survivors. Search and rescue teams recovered the remains of all crew and passengers after a week-long operation.

According to aviation safety authorities, the aircraft, operated by Indonesia Air Transport, struck the slopes of Mount Bulusaraung in South Sulawesi while attempting to land at Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport after departing from Yogyakarta.

National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said the aircraft veered off its flight path during the approach and entered mountainous terrain.

Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi told lawmakers that the aircraft, registered as PK-THT, had been chartered by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries for maritime surveillance operations.

He said air traffic controllers in Makassar had instructed the pilot to correct the aircraft’s course and issued further guidance to return to the designated landing path in line with standard procedures. Communication was later lost, prompting air traffic control to declare a distress phase.

Indonesia Air Transport CEO Adi Tri Wibowo said the aircraft had been regularly chartered by the ministry for several years and was operated in compliance with airworthiness requirements.

“This flight was a charter operation by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The contract has been in place for several years, and the aircraft was operated in accordance with aviation safety regulations,” Adi said in Makassar last week.

He stressed that the ATR 42-500 had met all technical and administrative requirements prior to operation and said the company would fully cooperate with investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

“We will fully support the investigation and leave it to the authorities to ensure the cause of the accident is established objectively,” he said.