Indonesia Widens Search for Missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon & Agencies, Dec 29, 2014

Commander of the Search and Rescue (SAR) Team of the Indonesian Navy,
Admiral Abdul Rashid, points to the search area on a map at the Navy Port,
in Batam, Riau. (EPA Photo/Massulis Mbasan)

Jakarta. The search for AirAsia flight QZ8501 missing off Indonesia with 162 people on board was expanded on Monday, but one top official warned it was likely at the bottom of the sea.

Teams from Indonesia, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia resumed the search at dawn for the Indonesia AirAsia plane, which lost contact with air traffic control en route from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday. It was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members — the majority of whom were Indonesian.

Seven helicopters, 11 fixed-wing aircraft and 16 ships have been deployed to search a 160 square-kilometer area, authorities said.

Monday’s search was expanded northward into the waters between Sumatra and Kalimantan and now takes in Singkep island, the Karimata Strait and the northern reaches of West Kalimantan.

“We added three sectors to the north of the [four] search areas we had yesterday,” said Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).

But Bambang told 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.

Currently search teams are scouring an area where the sea is 40 to 50 meters deep, he said, adding that Indonesia was coordinating with other countries to access any equipment needed to scour the seabed.

“Due to the lack of technology that we have, I have coordinated with our foreign minister so we will borrow from other countries which have offered. They are the UK, France and US,” he said.

“It is not easy to look for something underwater … that will not break our spirit to continue searching, no way.”

Hoping for news

Distraught relatives spent Sunday night in Surabaya hoping for news of loved ones.

Intan, 28, urged Indonesia to seek international help to find the plane which was carrying her brother and his family and friends.

“My hope is Indonesia seeks as much help as possible from other countries. Don’t claim ‘We have sophisticated technology’, just ask other countries because they are better equipped,” she said.

“My prayer is I really, really hope that there will be news about the people on board. Whatever it is, what is important is we know where they are now,” Intan said.

One Indonesian family of 10 is counting themselves incredibly lucky after they arrived too late to catch flight QZ8501.

“Maybe it is all God’s plan that my family and I were not on the flight. It was a blessing in disguise,” said Christianawati, 36.

The family failed to board the plane after Christianawati’s husband  missed an e-mail notifying him about a change in departure time.

AirAsia said the 155 passengers onboard the plane comprised 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton. The seven-member crew consists of six Indonesians and the French co-pilot.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Boeing A320-200 about 45 minutes after it left Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport at about 5:35 a.m.

Shortly before the plane disappeared, the pilot asked to ascend by 6,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid heavy clouds but his request was turned down due to another flight above him.

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 activities are better in the future,” Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters.

The plane had last undergone its scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, 2014.

Related Article:

Family of 10 Narrowly Miss Boarding AirAsia Flight QZ8501