Indonesian officials were hopeful on Saturday that they were honing in on the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 after sonar equipment detected two large objects on the ocean floor, nearly a week after the plane went down in stormy weather.
Teams equipped with a remote-operated vehicle were battling high waves and strong currents as they tried to capture images of the suspected chunks of the plane for confirmation, said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency.
An Indonesian navy ship detected the objects early on Friday, and searchers later zoomed in with a Geological Survey vessel to take dimensions.
One of the objects was measured at 9.4 metres by 4.8 metres and half a metre high. The other, found nearby, was 7.2 metres by half a metre.
“I’m confident this is part of the AirAsia plane,” Soelistyo said.
The Airbus A320, carrying 162 passengers and crew, crashed on last Sunday, halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, to Singapore. Minutes before losing contact, the pilot told air traffic control that he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic.
Indonesian authorities announced the grounding of AirAsia flights from Surabaya to Singapore, with the Transport Ministry saying the airline did not have a permit to fly on Sundays. However, Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority said Saturday that from its end, the airline had been approved to fly the route daily.
AirAsia, which began operations in 2001, quickly becoming one of the region’s most popular low-cost carriers, said it was reviewing the suspension. The crash was the airline’s first.
So far, only 30 corpses have been recovered, a few still strapped in their seats. Bad weather and waves, sometimes 4 metres high, have slowed efforts, scattering bodies and debris farther and farther away. Among the discoveries so far are an emergency exit door and slide, as well as a backpack with food and a camera.(AP)
Teams equipped with a remote-operated vehicle were battling high waves and strong currents as they tried to capture images of the suspected chunks of the plane for confirmation, said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency.
An Indonesian navy ship detected the objects early on Friday, and searchers later zoomed in with a Geological Survey vessel to take dimensions.
One of the objects was measured at 9.4 metres by 4.8 metres and half a metre high. The other, found nearby, was 7.2 metres by half a metre.
“I’m confident this is part of the AirAsia plane,” Soelistyo said.
The Airbus A320, carrying 162 passengers and crew, crashed on last Sunday, halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, to Singapore. Minutes before losing contact, the pilot told air traffic control that he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic.
Indonesian authorities announced the grounding of AirAsia flights from Surabaya to Singapore, with the Transport Ministry saying the airline did not have a permit to fly on Sundays. However, Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority said Saturday that from its end, the airline had been approved to fly the route daily.
AirAsia, which began operations in 2001, quickly becoming one of the region’s most popular low-cost carriers, said it was reviewing the suspension. The crash was the airline’s first.
So far, only 30 corpses have been recovered, a few still strapped in their seats. Bad weather and waves, sometimes 4 metres high, have slowed efforts, scattering bodies and debris farther and farther away. Among the discoveries so far are an emergency exit door and slide, as well as a backpack with food and a camera.(AP)
