Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, Dec 31, 2014
Jakarta.
The search for the missing Indonesia AirAsia plane carrying 162 people appeared
to be over on Tuesday evening after rescuers pulled bodies and debris from the
sea off the coast of Kalimantan.
The
Indonesian Navy confirmed that more than 40 bodies had been pulled from the sea
as dusk fell, and authorities will continue with an extensive recovery
operation on Wednesday.
The
military chief, Gen. Moeldoko, refused, though, to confirm the Navy’s comments
about the bodies and said all statements about the number of bodies recovered
would have to go through Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, or
Basarnas, which is coordinating the search efforts.
Basarnas
chief Bambang Soelistyo said at a press conference that six bodies were found
and three had been retrieved as well as some of the debris from the water and
all of those were brought to the Central Kalimantan town of Pangkalan Bun.
“We’ve been
able to verify that three of the bodies are those of two women and one man,” he
said at the agency’s headquarters in Jakarta.
Items
resembling an emergency slide, plane door and other objects were spotted in the
sea during an aerial search for Flight QZ8501 about midday.
Basarnas
confirmed with certainty that the items spotted during an aerial search was
debris from the plane.
“Today we
can confirm 100 percent that the debris and bodies are from the plane that we
have been looking for,” Soelistyo said.
The
breakthrough came more than 48 hours after the plane disappeared over the Java
Sea en route from Surabaya to Singapore.
There were
155 passengers on board, including 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one
Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton. The seven-member crew consisted of
six Indonesians and the French co-pilot.
A number of
vessels were on their way to the waters of the Karimata Strait, some 160
kilometers from Pangkalan Bun, to collect the debris on Tuesday.
The navy
later confirmed a large part of the missing Airbus A320-200 was also found 62
kilometers from the area where debris was first spotted.
“We have
found some more debris and the cargo hold, which is still 65 percent intact,”
1st Lt. Galang told news portal Detik.com.
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| (JG & Beritasatu.com Graphics/Nadia Tammu & Danung Arifin) |
An
extensive search
President
Joko Widodo spoke at a press conference at Juanda International Airport in
Surabaya at around 7 p.m. to express his condolences to family members of the
passengers and crew of the flight, adding that an extensive search will be
conducted on Wednesday.
“Tomorrow
morning, there will be a huge search operation by using aircraft and vessels,”
Joko said. “I’ve instructed the National Search and Rescue Agency to make a
joint operation to find the body of the airplane and also passengers and flight
crew. I’ve instructed them to focus on retrieving the passengers and flight
crew.
“I also
want to thank and give my highest appreciation to the National Search and
Rescue Agency, the Indonesian Armed Forces, the National Police, the volunteers
and also the fishermen who have helped in the search of the airplane, the
passengers and flight crew.
“I also
want to thank the neighboring countries who have joined in in the search — from
Singapore, Malaysia and Australia,” he said.
“For the
families of the passengers and flight crew, I’m also at a loss from this
incident and I’m sending my prayers to the families so that they can find the
strength to get through this misfortune,” Joko said.
AirAsia
Group chief executive Tony Fernandes was also present at the press conference,
saying that he hoped that the flight recorder box will be recovered as part of
the investigation as to why the aircraft went down into the sea. He defended
the captain’s experience and the performance of the aircraft but accepted
responsibility as leader of the company.
“You don’t
know what went wrong,” Fernandes said. “This is a scar that will be with me for
the rest of my life.”
He offered
his condolences to the family members of the passengers and crew, adding that
the focus would be on the recovery of remains and the aircraft.
“Words
can’t express what they’re going through, but I’ve talked to the families with
my limited bahasa Indonesia,” Fernandes said.
Compensation
will be given to the families, he said, but he will wait for an investigation
on the cause of the aircraft’s accident.
“We’ll keep
investigating what went wrong during the accident,” he said.
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| A crew member on an Indonesian Maritime Surveillance looks out the window during a search for Indonesia AirAsia’s flight QZ8501, north of Bangka island on Dec. 30, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside) |
‘Be strong’
Soelistyo of Basarnas said in an interview with Metro
TV at around 8:30 p.m. that the extensive search will commence at 6 a.m. on
Wednesday and will include 47 divers to the nine who are already stationed at
Pangkalan Bun. The nine divers were supposed to help in the search on Tuesday
but were held back because of bad weather, he said.
Soelistyo had told reporters earlier in the day that a
“shadow” on the seabed spotted by an Air Force plane was believed to be the
missing AirAsia jet.
“On
information regarding shadows on the seabed, we received that information from
one of our units. We will investigate based on the information and find out
whether it’s the airplane or another object. I will deploy vessels that have
sonar systems to investigate it,” Soelistyo told Metro TV.
Relatives
of the 155 passengers and seven crew members burst into tears and hugged each
other after footage of a body was broadcast during the Basarnas press
conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Surabaya
Mayor Tri Rismaharini comforted relatives at the airport and told them “to be
strong.”
About 30
ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South
Korea and the United States have been involved in the search of up to 10,000
square nautical miles.
The plane,
which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to
get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic,
officials said.
The flight
was led by Capt. Irianto, who had a total of 6,100 flying hours under his belt.
His first officer had clocked in 2,275 flying hours.
Air traffic
controllers lost contact with the plane about 45 minutes after it left
Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport at 5:36 a.m. on Sunday.
AirAsia
Indonesia said in a statement that its employees have been sent to the site and
will cooperate fully with Indonesian authorities.
The airline
said it would invite victims’ families to Surabaya and where a team of
dedicated carers would be assigned to each family. Counselors and “religious
and spiritual personnel” had also been invited, the company said.
Sunu
Widyatmoko, chief executive of Indonesia AirAsia, said the company would like
to extend its sincerest sympathies to the family and friends of those on board
the flight.
Additional reporting from AFP & Reuters
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Jokowi: An
extensive search on #QZ8501 will be conducted on Wednesday
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