AirAsia Offers to Fly to View Search Area

Sidoarjo, E Java (Antara) - AirAsia is offering the families of the victims aboard the missing aircraft QZ8501 the facility to have an aerial view of the supposed location of the crash site on Wednesday (Dec. 31). "We provide the facility as an effort to provide succor to the family of QZ8501 passengers," President Director of AirAsia Indonesia Sunu Widyatmoko noted here on Tuesday. Sunu and other related officials involved in the search effort held a press conference at the Crisis Center at Terminal II of Juanda Airport. According to Sunu, the airline will provide an Airbus A320 aircraft with a capacity to seat 180 passengers and will take off from Terminal II of Juanda Airport, Sidoarjo of East Java Province. Executive Director of Angkasa Pura I Tommy Soetomo stated that the institution will also accompany the families who want to directly view the location. Tommy reported that Angkasa Pura I is also providing live television streaming of the search effort and the communication facility with the National Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency headquarter in Kemayoran of Central Jakarta. "We will communicate with the SAR Agency every 3 to 4 hours. This was the request made by the families of the victims, and we will facilitate it," Tommy said, adding that the direct information made available by the SAR Agency was reliable. The Indonesian Ship Bung Tomo has discovered an object believed to be the emergency exit door of the missing AirAsia aircraft QZ8501 on Tuesday, at 1:50 p.m. local time. The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has deployed a team to examine the ten objects suspected to be the debris from the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501. The ten objects were spotted floating in the waters of Pangkalan Bun by a CN-235 aircraft of the Indonesian Air Force while flying over the area. The CN-235 aircraft spotted the object about 10 kilometers from the location where the AirAsia flight QZ8501 made the last contact.(*)