Tuesday's AirAsia Plane Search Focused on 13 Zones: Basarnas

Sidoarjo, E Java (Antara) - Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) on Tuesday focused its search operation on 13 zones to trace the missing AirAsia jet, which lost contact with Jakarta's air traffic control tower on Sunday. "We evaluated the result of the previous search operation, and today, the mission will be continued across 13 zones," Chief of Surabaya-based Basarnas Hernanto stated here Tuesday. Due to the larger search area, the efforts to spot the QZ8501 flight carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members were continued by involving Indonesian vessels and aircraft and some from foreign countries such as Singapore, he noted. Basarnas also followed up on claims made by some people, who reported seeing the missing Airbus A320-200 flight and information about the oil spill at sea by combing the areas, he remarked. In response to this airline disaster, President Joko Widodo in Jakarta on Monday had ordered all parties involved in the massive search operation to do their best to find the missing plane. According to Acting Director General of Air Transportation Djoko Murdjatmojo, the aircraft might have lost contact at 6.17 a.m. local time on Sunday when it flew between Pontianak, West Kalimantan province, and Tanjung Pandan, Bangka Belitung Province. "The aircraft lost contact at 6.17 a.m. (Western Indonesian Standard Time). It just lost contact. We do not have any other assumptions," he stated.(*)