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No signal received from AirAsia, says Basarnas
The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) had not yet found any signal from AirAsia flight QZ8501, which went missing while en route from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, a senior official said
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he National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) had not yet found any signal from AirAsia flight QZ8501, which went missing while en route from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, a senior official said.
'Search operations will continue,' acting director general of Air Transportation at the Transportation Ministry, Djoko Muriatmodjo, said, as quoted by Antara news agency during a press conference at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Sunday.
He said a number of institutions were supporting Basarnas search for the Airbus A320-200, including the Indonesian Air Force, which had dispatched a Hercules aircraft from its military air base in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and a CN-235 aircraft from its Juanda military air base in Surabaya, East Java.
'The Search and Rescue [SAR]'s Dolpin aircraft also flew from Pondok Cabe, Jakarta, to Tanjung Pandan,' said Djoko.
He reminded all parties not to make early conclusions about whether QZ8501 had crashed or experienced other problems.
'Don't make any early conclusions. There might be further developments, we will likely not know until we are able to find the aircraft,' said Djoko.
He further said five countries, namely Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the UK, had offered help in the search operation. The Indonesian government was trying its best to do everything possible to find the missing aircraft, he added.
'We are first searching via sea and land based on our own capacity,' said Djoko.
On Sunday evening, Basarnas suspended its air search for the lost AirAsia flight, which was carrying 162 people on board, due to nightfall and will resume the search Monday morning. (ebf)(++++)
