The search for a missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 with 162 people aboard was expanded yesterday, the Indonesian government announced.
At press time, four additional areas were being searched, the national search and rescue agency said. Seven zones were patrolled yesterday, the third day of searching for the plane. So far, the search has been fruitless. More than a dozen ships have been sent to the area to try to find the aircraft.
“Our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea,” said Bambang Sulistyo, the head of the search and rescue agency. That belief is based on the plane’s flight track and last known coordinates.
France dispatched two investigators to Indonesia, France’s Foreign Ministry said. The missing plane is made by Airbus, a French company.
Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have deployed planes to assist in the Indonesian-led search. China will dispatch aircraft and ships to participate in search and rescue efforts, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said.
A Chinese navy frigate previously patrolling in the South China Sea is en route to the waters near where the plane lost contact, the ministry said on its website. The Chinese air force is also assisting with planning, the ministry said.
Malaysia’s transportation minister said his country has deployed three vessels and three aircraft to assist in the search. And the Royal Australian Air Force said Monday that it was deploying a patrol plane to help.
The United Kingdom, France and the United States have offered technology to assist in the hunt. At press time, search teams were scouring a 70-mile square area where the much of the sea is 40-50 metres (130-160 feet) deep.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pledged his country would do “whatever it humanly can to assist”, but said what had happened was very different to the mystery surrounding the disappearance earlier this year of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370.
Several storm clouds were along the route of the flight, and Sunday’s search for the Airbus A320 was hampered by heavy rain.
Pilots’ request to climb higher to avoid storm refused
Pilots of the AirAsia plane thought to have crashed in the Java Sea were refused permission to climb higher to avoid a storm, according to Indonesia’s air travel chief.
Joko Muryo Atmodjo said Flight QZ8501 had asked to ascend from 32,000ft (9,753m) to 38,000ft (11,582m) but controllers denied the request because of heavy air traffic. Five minutes later the plane fell off the radar without sending any distress signal.
The aircraft had been on its way from Surabaya, on the Indonesian island of Java, to Singapore. The search team’s grim prediction is that the Airbus A320 is now “likely at the bottom of the sea”.
Data from Flightradar24.com showed several other planes were between 34,000 to 36,000ft when it disappeared on Sunday morning. Unconfirmed secondary radar from Malaysia suggests it was climbing at 100 knots too slow.
A pilot, Ray Karam Singh, who is familiar with the route, told Sky News icy conditions at high altitudes might have caused the plane to stall. He said: “As you climb higher the temperature gets colder … the speed comes down your margin of error is less.”
However, nearly all of the 162 passengers and crew on board were from Indonesia. The daughter of the captain named as Iryanto by the AP news agency posted an emotional message on social media site Path.
“Papa, come home, I still need you …Bring back my papa. Papa, please come home,” said 22-year-old Angela Anggi Ranastianis. Dozens of people have gathered at the home of the former F-16 fighter pilot in the town of Sidoarjo.
“He is a good man. That’s why people here appointed him as our neighbourhood chief for the last two years,” said neighbour Bagianto Djoyonegoro. Relatives of passengers have also been gathering at Indonesia’s Surabaya airport, where a family crisis has been set up.
One man described how his daughter, Ruth Natalia Puspitasari, had showed concern for the families of people on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Debris spotted in sea
An Australian plane has spotted debris in the sea during the hunt for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, authorities said yesterday.
Jakarta’s Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto said an Australian Orion aircraft had detected “suspicious” objects near Nangka island, between Sumatra and Borneo and close to Belitung island.
The Associated Press (AP) news agency said the spot is about 700 miles (1,120km) from the location where the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers over the Java Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning.
But it is well within the area currently being searched. Indonesia’s Vice President Jusuf Kalla said there was not enough evidence to confirm the report. “It has been checked and no sufficient evidence was found to confirm what was reported,” he said at a news conference.
Meanwhile, searchers have also been looking at an oil slick off the east coast of Belitung island. Ships hunted round the clock but aircraft suspended operations following night fall. The flight had been on its way from Surabaya on the Indonesian island of Java to Singapore when it disappeared from radar screens.
CREDIT/THE SUN
No comments:
Post a Comment