REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has broadened its search area for the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft by including a second priority area around Kumai Bay, Pangkalan Bun waters, Central Kalimantan.
"For today's operation, after a technical evaluation and analysis of the tactical result of yesterday's search, we have widened the prioritized search areas. I call this the second prioritized area," Chief of Basarnas F.H. Bambang Soelistyo remarked here on Tuesday (6/1).
The second priority area is located outside the first priority search area.
Soelistyo stated that on the tenth day of the search operations, the search and rescue team was deployed in the initially designated four sectors to locate and evacuate the debris and bodies of the victims.
With regard to the second prioritized sector, the joint operations search team will be scrambled to search for the fuselage and black box of the missing aircraft.
In the second prioritized search area, the team is being supported by vessels equipped with devices for underwater operations such as Indonesian warships: KRI Hasannudin, KRI Usman Harun, Geosurvey vessel, and Baruna Jaya I ship.
"They are working together to search for the missing aircraft using sonar and pinger locater devices," Soelistyo noted.
The Baruna Jaya I ship is owned by the Technology Development and Assessment Agency (BPPT).
"In the search operation, we are equipped with multibeam echo sounder sonar, metal detectors, and an ROV (remotely operated vehicle)," Head of BPPT Unggul Priyanto earlier stated on Sunday (Jan. 4).
The AirAsia Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people, had gone missing on Sunday morning (Dec. 28) after losing contact with air traffic control on its way from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore.
The Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 lost contact after the pilot requested to climb to 38 thousand feet from 32 thousand feet to avoid stormy weather over the sea area between Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan.
The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members. It took off from the Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, at 5:36 a.m. local time, and lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. local time.
The plane, piloted by Captain Iriyanto and First Officer (FO) Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Seven foreigners were among the passengers of the missing jet. The foreign nationals comprised three Koreans, a Singaporean, a British, a Malaysian, and a French FO.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika