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The Navy grounded seven Nomad aircraft pending an investigation into Monday’s deadly crash as a spokesman on Wednesday explained why civilians, two of whom died in the crash, were on board a military plane.

The move follows a stern appeal from members of the House of Representatives on Monday for the Navy to suspend the use of Nomad P-837 planes.

Navy spokesman First Adm. Iskandar Sitompul said field officers collected pieces of the wreckage for the investigation that began on Tuesday.

“We will also interview the pilot and other crew members on the plane, but we will wait until they make a full recovery,” he said.

The Navy will examine the condition of the grounded Nomads. “We will conduct a detailed evaluation of the aircraft, and if we find them still useful for our operations we will use them,” Sitompul said.

Responding to questions about the six civilian passengers on board the ill-fated plane, Sitompul said they had not been part of the surveillance mission.

He explained the plane had left Tarakan in East Kalimantan to patrol the Indonesia-Malaysia maritime border at 11 a.m. local time on Monday.

After three hours in the air, the plane landed at a small airport in Long Bawang to relay intelligence data, he said.

With the mission was over, the aircraft was to return to its base in Tarakan, Sitompul said.

The six civilians boarded the plane in Long Bawang. “The civilians said that they needed to get to Tarakan as soon as possible,” he said.

“Our personnel decided to help the civilians for humanitarian reasons. Besides, the mission had been completed. They are not wrong to help civilians,” he said

“Maximum passenger capacity of the plane is 12 people. The civilians and crew on board were only nine people, so capacity was not exceeded.”

The wreck marks the country’s eighth military aircraft accident this year.