AirAsia Flight 8501: Searchers Find 4 Large Pieces of Jet Plane
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nuttapong/iStock Editorial/Thinkstock(SURABAYA, Indonesia) — Ships equipped with sensitive sonar equipment were able to locate four large sections of AirAsia Flight 8501,the plane that crashed into the sea last Sunday.
In a span of about 16 hours, the search turned up the four object, ranging from 7.2 x 0.9 x 0.5 meters to 18 x 5.4 x 2.2 meters. Those objects, according to the Chief of the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency Bambang Soelistyo, are the priority of the search.
The search teams also found one piece of debris, a small board and an orange bag.
Soelistyo said that 30 bodies have been pulled from the ocean, and that all of those bodies have since by transported back to Surabaya. At least 12 of those bodies were recovered by the U.S.S. Sampson, the first U.S. ship to assist in the efforts.
A second American ship, the U.S.S. Fort Worth was sent to the region on Friday and was expected to arrive on Saturday morning. The U.S.S. Fort Worth carries a helicopter which will “”further extend sensor coverage over the horizon” according to a release from the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet.
Rough weather, including rain and choppy seas, have made the search and rescue effort difficult, but the weather is expected to improve on Sunday. Divers continue to be focused on locating victims, the black boxes and the flight recorders.
The plane crashed into the Java Sea on Sunday with 162 people on board.
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