Jakarta Globe, Dec 29, 2014
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| (JG Graphics/Azalea Phinata) |
Jakarta. Search and rescue parties have reportedly spotted what seems to be an oil slick in the Java Sea, giving officials a glimmer of hope that the missing Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 could be found within this week.
“One of our Air Force planes conducting a search over Belitung spotted some kind of oil spill,” National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) chief Bambang Soelistyo said on Monday.
Belitung is an island off the coast of Sumatra, the site of where the flight last made contact with air traffic control.
Soelistyo said a Navy patrol vessel had been deployed to the area to conduct further investigations, but warned reporters the discovery may have no relation to the missing Airbus A320-200 jet.
“We haven’t concluded that the oil spill came from [the missing] plane,” he said.
The pool of oil was spotted 105 nautical miles (194 kilometers) off the island of Bangka, in the Bangka-Belitung archipelago off the southeastern edge of Sumatra.
“Hopefully it is from the AirAsia plane. But we can’t confirm it,” Soelistyo said.
The search for Flight QZ8501 was resumed at dawn on Monday. Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have dispatched aircraft and ships to assist Indonesia in the search, which was divided into seven zones. Seven helicopters, 11 fixed-wing aircraft and 16 ships were deployed to search a 160-square-kilometer area, officials said.
Soelistyo said that search crews would expand their search to focus on parts of the Java Sea between Belitung and West Kalimantan.
“A further four [search] zones will be added. It is merely an expansion of the existing zones,” he said.
Though he remained confident that search crews would find the aircraft, the Basarnas chief did not expect to find survivors, telling journalists the plane was most likely “at the bottom of the sea.”
“That’s the preliminary suspicion and it can develop based on the evaluation of the result of our search,” he said.
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| President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014. (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono) |
Search teams are currently scouring an area of the Java Sea that runs 40 to 50 meters deep, he said, adding that Indonesia had reached out to other countries for equipment needed to search the seabed.
“Due to the lack of technology at our disposal, I asked our foreign minister to approach countries who have offered their services. They are the UK, France and the United States,” he said. “The search will not be easy… [but] we will not be discouraged in any way.”
Meanwhile, Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) chief Andi Eka Sakya said on Monday that the next two days would provide the best opportunities for rescue teams to locate the missing plane.
The agency predicted light showers with waves no higher than 1.5 meters in the search areas. The weather is then expected to deteriorate, with heavy rains and waves up to three meters high.
The BMKG chief confirmed the missing AirAsia plan had run into inclement weather at the time it vanished from radar.
The jet carrying 162 people was traveling at an elevation of 32,000 feet (9,700 meters) at 6:12 a.m. on Sunday when it radioed for permission to turn left and climb to 38,000 feet to avoid bad weather, according to Transportation Ministry spokesman J.A. Barata.
The pilot request’s was denied due to air traffic above the plane.
Twelve minutes later, at approximately 6:24 a.m. the aircraft disappeared from air traffic control’s radar.
At 7:55 a.m., Flight QZ8501 was officially declared missing.
Air traffic control officers confirmed they received no emergency broadcasts.
AirAsia confirmed the 155 passengers onboard comprised 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.
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| A member of the Indonesian military looks out of the window during a search and rescue operation for missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, over the waters of the Java Sea on Dec. 29, 2014. (AFP Photo/Juni Kriswanto) |
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane about 45 minutes after it left Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport at 5:36 a.m.
The missing plane was operated by Indonesia AirAsia, a unit of Malaysian-based AirAsia, which dominates Southeast Asia’s booming low-cost airline market.
The Transportation Ministry said it would review the company’s operations.
“We will do a ground check as well as a review of AirAsia’s operations in Indonesia to ensure that all of its [aviation] activities can improve,” Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters.
The plane had last undergone its scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16.
Australia on Monday joined the Indonesia-led search for the plane. A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) AP-3C Orion took off from the northern city of Darwin early on Monday to join the operation, the Australian Defense Force said.
“The RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft has a well-proven capability in search and rescue and carries maritime search radar coupled with infrared and electro-optical sensors to support the visual observation capabilities provided by its highly trained crew,” said chief of defense Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has pledged to help Indonesia in the search for the missing aircraft, calling President Joko on Sunday to offer his full assistance in the matter.
Additional reporting from AFP & Reuters
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