Indonesian navy locates AirAsia tail section likely to contain black boxes
Patrol vessel locates what the captain said could be the tail of the missing AirAsia jet, the section where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located
An Indonesian naval patrol vessel found on Monday what the captain said could be the tail of the missing AirAsia jet, the section where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located.
Ships and aircraft seeking debris and bodies from the Airbus A320-200 widened their search area to allow for currents eight days after Flight QZ8501 plunged into the water en route from Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.
“We found what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane,” Yayan Sofyan, captain of the patrol vessel, told reporters. However, the Indonesian search and rescue agency is yet to confirm the discovery.
The breakthrough comes after Indonesia’s transportation ministry announced harsh measures against everyone who allowed AirAsia Flight 8501 to take off without proper permits - including the suspension of the airport’s operator and officials in the control tower.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency has said seasonal tropical storms probably contributed to the December 28 crash and the weather has persistently hampered efforts to recover bodies and find the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that should explain why the plane crashed into the sea.
The main focus of the search is about 90 nautical miles off the coast of Borneo island, where five large objects believed to be parts of the plane - the largest about 18 metres long – have been pinpointed in shallow waters by ships using sonar.
