Bodies Retrieved from Apparent Crash Site of AirAsia Jet
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ABC News(SURABAYA, Indonesia) — Wreckage that was spotted floating in Indonesian waters early Tuesday is connected to the missing AirAsia jetliner that crashed into the Java Sea on Sunday with 162 people aboard, according to the airline.
In a statement, the airline said, “AirAsia Indonesia regrets to inform that The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, the flight that had lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28th December 2014.”
The search for the missing AirAsia jetliner resumed Tuesday, with at least three bodies being retrieved about 10 miles from where air traffic control lost contact with the jet, according to Lt. Colonel Jhonson Simatupang, Air Base Commander Iskandar Pangkalan Bun.
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Indonesian searchers also reported seeing 10 other objects in the waters around Belitung Island, Indonesia. One item was said to resemble an emergency exit door.
Tuesday’s search area contained at least four new sectors, including ground area, officials said. The U.S. Navy also confirmed it was sending the destroyer, the USS Sampson, to assist in the search.
Flight 8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday at 6:17 a.m. local time near Belitung Island after the flight left Surabaya, Indonesia.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that the pilots’ request to fly above the clouds to avoid bad weather was not immediately responded to by air traffic control because other aircraft had crowded the area. Shortly thereafter, the pilots lost contact and Flight 8501 disappeared from radar.
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This is the third air incident this year for Malaysian-based airlines. Last March, Malaysia Airlines flight 370, a wide-bodied Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, lost contact with air traffic control soon after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. It hasn’t been found.
Last July, a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.
Aviation experts say the biggest difference between Flight 370 and Flight 8501 is that the search area in this latest incident is much smaller.
With Flight 370, the search area changed several times but investigators eventually determined that the aircraft probably crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean. That body of water is significantly larger, deeper, and less predictable than the Java Sea, the body of water surrounded by portions of the island nations of Indonesia and Malaysia.
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