Indonesian bride-to-be takes wedding photos alone for fiancé who died in Lion Air crash

On what would have been her wedding day, Intan Syari stood wearing her bridal gown and forced a smile for the camera.

The 26-year-old Indonesian woman had promised her betrothed that she would take photos in her wedding gown and send them to him if he was late returning.

But Syari’s fiancé, Dr Rio Nanda Pratama, never returned. He was among the 189 people who were killed when Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the sea on October 29, shortly after taking off from Jakarta.

The couple had planned to get married last Sunday. Pratama, who had attended a seminar in Jakarta, was on his way home to Pangkal Pinang for the wedding.

Syari said she wanted to honour Pratama’s final request, even though at the time it had been made in jest.

“We were just joking at that time,” she said on Wednesday. “He asked me to still wear my wedding gown that he chose for me on our wedding day, put on beautiful make-up and hold a white rose bouquet, take good photos and send them to him.”

Pratama was her “first love”, Syari said. They started dating 13 years ago.

On Sunday, she went ahead and took the photos in her white wedding gown with a white satin head covering, holding a white rose bouquet in her hand, surrounded by relatives and friends.

“Although I actually feel grief that I cannot describe, I have to smile for you,” Syari wrote on Instagram. “I should not be sad, I have to stay strong as you always say to me, I love you, Rio Nanda Pratama.”

Chilling video shows doomed travellers boarding Lion Air flight

Investigators say sensors that help prevent planes from stalling were replaced on the Lion Air plane the day before its fatal flight and may have compounded other problems with the aircraft.

Body parts are still being recovered and searchers are continuing to hunt for the cockpit voice recorder.