Indonesia said Wednesday it had found the tail of an AirAsia
plane that crashed into the sea with 162 people on board, raising hopes
of finding its black boxes and explaining the disaster.
Search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo
said he was sure of the discovery after divers took photographs of the
tail, wedged into the seabed 30 metres (100 feet) underwater, on which
the company's logo could be seen.
"We have successfully obtained part of the plane
that has been our target. The tail portion has been confirmed found,"
Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta.
AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished from radar screens
during a storm on December 28 when it was flying from the Indonesian
city of Surabaya to Singapore. All but seven of those on board were
Indonesian.
The Indonesian meteorological agency said weather
was the "triggering factor" of the crash in the Java Sea, with ice
likely damaging the engines of the Airbus A320-200.
But a much clearer explanation is not possible without the black boxes, which record the pilots' voices as well as flight information. They were housed in the aircraft's tail.
But a much clearer explanation is not possible without the black boxes, which record the pilots' voices as well as flight information. They were housed in the aircraft's tail.
"I am led to believe the tail section has been
found. If right part of tail section then the black box should be
there," AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes wrote on Twitter after the
announcement.
"We need to find all parts soon so we can find all (our) guests to ease the pain of our families. That still is our priority."
Despite a huge operation assisted by US, Russian
and other foreign military assets, progress in finding the wreckage of
the plane and its passengers has been patchy with stormy weather
severely hampering the search. So far 40 bodies have been found, all of
them floating at sea.
And despite the discovery of the tail, authorities could not say when the black boxes would be found and retrieved.
One problem is the tail being deep into the seabed, according to chief maritime affairs minister Indroyono Soesilo.
The search for the rest of the plane would now
focus on a two-nautical-mile area surrounding the tail, with a remotely
controlled mini-submarine a key part of the effort, Soesilo and other
senior Indonesian officials told a press conference.
Many of the bodies yet to be recovered were likely in the main parts of the plane that have yet to be found, they said.
Action against air officials -
Indonesia's transport ministry said on Wednesday that it had fired one transport official and disciplined several others in a crackdown following the crash, as it investigated how the flight was able to depart without permission.
Indonesia alleges the plane was flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed and AirAsia has since been suspended from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route.
Indonesia's transport ministry said on Wednesday that it had fired one transport official and disciplined several others in a crackdown following the crash, as it investigated how the flight was able to depart without permission.
Indonesia alleges the plane was flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed and AirAsia has since been suspended from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route.
"To date, we have taken action against eight
officials -- two from the transport ministry, four from state navigation
operator AirNav, and two airport officials," Hadi Mustofa, an official
with the transport ministry's public affairs office,
"One of the transport ministry officials was fired
and the other official was temporarily suspended. As for the other six
officials, some have been temporarily suspended and some have been
transferred."Source AFP.
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