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Air-Asia: Indonesia Officials Find Bodies, Debris Off Coast Of Borneo Island

Indonesia officials and rescuers have seen bodies and luggage off the coast of Borneo island on Tuesday which was declared 95% sure to be from … Continue reading Air-Asia: Indonesia Officials Find Bodies, Debris Off Coast Of Borneo Island


AirAsiaIndonesia officials and rescuers have seen bodies and luggage off the coast of Borneo island on Tuesday which was declared 95% sure to be from the missing Air-Asia plane QZ8501 with 162 people on board.

Indonesia Air-Asia’s Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Indonesia’s national broadcaster reported sighting bodies floating in the waters, and citing Indonesian officials as saying that there was a shadow of the plane underneath the sea.

At least forty bodies have so far been discovered about an hour and a half flight away from Surabaya.

Search and Rescue Agency chief, Soelistyo told reporters he was “95 per cent sure” the debris was from the missing plane.

All resources were now being sent to the area where the debris was found, and all objects or bodies found would be taken to Pangkalan Bun, he said, referring to a nearby town in Central Kalimantan province.

Mr Soelistyo added that ships with more sophisticated technology were being deployed to check whether larger parts of the plane were submerged beneath the debris.

Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting director general of air transportation at the transportation ministry, told reporters some of the debris spotted were red and white, Air-Asia’s colors.

“It’s probably from the aircraft,” he said.

Air-Asia CEO, Tony Fernandes, tweeted to the families: “My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of Air-Asia my condolences.

Earlier, Indonesian officials said they were investigating reports of smoke seen rising from an island close to Belitung island, one of the focal points of the search, though experts cautioned it could be unrelated to the missing plane.

On board the plane were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew.

Most were Indonesian but the passengers included one UK national, a Malaysian, a Singaporean and three South Koreans.

The plane left Surabaya at 05:35 Jakarta time on Sunday and had been due to arrive in Singapore two hours later.

Safety officials say the captain had asked for permission to take the plane higher but, by the time permission was granted, communication with the plane was lost.

It was officially declared missing at 07:55.

Air-Asia previously had an excellent safety record and there were no fatal accidents involving its aircraft.