Body count of AirAsia crash reaches 40 on eleventh day

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), on the eleventh day of search operations assisted by teams from several countries, has recovered 40 bodies of the passengers of the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft.



Chief of Basarnas F.H. Bambang Soelistyo stated here during a press conference on Wednesday that another body was found on the eleventh day of the search operations, which takes the total count of recovered bodies to 40 so far.



An ANTARA reporter in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan reported that the body was found on Wednesday morning at Area II, located 144 nautical miles, or 260 kilometers, from the Iskandar Airport, Pangkalan Bun.



"We were instructed to retrieve the body from the location. A private tugboat found the body," Captain Pilot Indra Lessy remarked in Pangkalan Bun on Tuesday.



A Super Puma helicopter of the Indonesian Air Force was scrambled to recover the body from the location at 04.22.81,8 Southern Latitude and 113.22.89,0 Eastern Longitude, near Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.



Moreover, 12 pieces of debris were also recovered by the Geo Survey vessel using sonar.



On Tuesday (Jan. 6), Basarnas had broadened its search area for the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft by including a second priority area around Kumai Bay, Pangkalan Bun waters, Central Kalimantan.



Soelistyo stated on Tuesday that the second priority area is located outside the first priority search area.



According to Soelistyo, on the tenth day of the search operation, the search and rescue team was deployed in the initially designated four sectors to locate and evacuate the debris and bodies of the victims.



With regard to the second prioritized sector, the joint operations search team will be deployed to search for the fuselage and black box of the missing aircraft.



In the second prioritized search area, the team has been supported by vessels such as Indonesian warships: KRI Hasannudin, KRI Usman Harun, Geo Survey vessel, and Baruna Jaya I ship that are equipped with devices for underwater search operations.



"They are working together to search for the missing aircraft using sonar and pinger locater devices," Soelistyo noted.



The AirAsia Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people, had gone missing on Sunday morning (Dec. 28) after losing contact with air traffic control on its way from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore.



Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 lost contact after the pilot requested to climb to 38 thousand feet from 32 thousand feet to avoid rough weather over the sea between Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan.



The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members. It took off from the Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 5:36 a.m. local time and lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. local time.



The plane, piloted by Captain Iriyanto and First Officer (FO) Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time.



Seven foreigners were among the passengers. The foreign nationals comprised three Koreans, a Singaporean, a British, a Malaysian, and a French FO.(*)