REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PANGKALAN BUN -- The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), on the tenth day operation assisted by teams from several countries, has recovered 39 bodies of the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft.
Director of Operation and Training of Basarnas SB Supriyadi said here Tuesday that the team has recovered two more bodies.
One body has been found by the Diraja Kesturi vessel of Malaysia and has been transported to Iskandar Airport in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, on a Douolphinn helicopter.
"The second body has been found by the JS Onami vessel of Japan and moved to the Basarnas ship and will reach the Kumai Port on Tuesday night at around 10:00 p.m. local time," Supriyadi noted.
Bad weather and poor visibility under water have been impeding the search and rescue team's efforts to find the missing aircraft, Supriyadi said.
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.
Chief of Basarnas FHB Soelistyo stated on Tuesday that the second priority area has been located outside the first priority search area.
According to Soelistyo, on the 10th day of the search operation, the search and rescue team was deployed in the initially designated four sectors to locate and evacuate debris and the 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 has been supported by vessels such as Indonesian warships: KRI Hasannudin, KRI Usman Harun, Geosurvey vessel, and Baruna Jaya I ship that are equipped with devices for underwater operations.
They are working together to search for the missing aircraft using sonar and pinger locater devices," Soelistyo noted.
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.
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 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. The foreign nationals comprised three Koreans, a Singaporean, a British, a Malaysian, and a French FO.
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