After nearly three days of searching, the mystery of the missing Indonesia AirAsia jet Flight QZ8501 has been unravelled. The plane stalled in mid-air and subsequently went plummeting down and crashed through the waters off the coast of the island of Borneo.
Indonesian search and rescue team found a couple of debris of the aircraft as well as a number of floating bodies in the sea during the night of December 30.
Possibly out of their excitement over the news, Indonesian TV entities showed pictures of floating bodies and some debris from the plane that had relatives of the passengers of Flight QZ8501 breaking down in tears and mourning in agony.
Reuters reported that relatives of the 162 passengers and crew were already in the designated crisis center in Surabaya when word got out that the debris and bodies of the missing Indonesia AirAsia jet have been found.
The plane wreckage, which is likely at the bottom of the sea, has yet to be found.
Indonesian navy initially reported that a total of 40 bodies have been recovered but upon confirmation by several local media entities, only three cadavers were found thus far. Indonesian authorities later on admitted that it was a miscommunication error from the search team.
More help for search mission
Yahoo! News Singapore reported that the Singaporean government has already sent the RSS Persistence, a landing ship tank, along with two Super Puma helicopters, to South Kalimantan in Indonesia to aid in the search and retrieval operations.
The country is also sending MV Swift Rescue, a submarine support vessel, to the area. It is Singapore’s fourth ship assigned for the search mission. The vessel is said to be equipped with sonars and sensors to help detect signals emitted from the plane’s black box.
The Indonesian search and rescue agency has resumed its mission as early as 5 am of December 31.
For its part, the United States is preparing to send the USS Forth Worth to help in the search and retrieval operations. The US military ship, currently docked in Changi Naval Base in Singapore, has the capability to map the debris field found on the surface, and has the right sonar equipment to track down the plane wreckage at the bottom of the sea.
Airline expresses condolences
Upon learning of the news that the missing Flight QZ8501 has crashed into the sea, Indonesia AirAsia jet officials began expressing their grief and condolences to the relatives of the passengers and crew of the ill-fated plane.
Tony Fernandes, Indonesia AirAsia CEO, was quoted as saying on Twitter that no words can express how sorry he was and the entire airline for the unfortunate loss of lives as a result of the accident.
The airline is inviting all relatives of the passengers and crew to the crisis center in Surabaya where a dedicated team of care providers would be ready to provide all their needs.
Flight QZ8501 lost radar contact on December 28 after advising Indonesian air traffic control that it would be climbing to an altitude of 38,000 feet from its erstwhile position of 32,000 feet to avoid the huge cloud formation in front of it as a result of the bad weather on the route from Surabaya to Singapore.