Search and Rescue Team Finds AirAsia Plane Wreckage

Jakarta (Antara) - The National Search and Rescue Team (Basarnas) said it discovered two large objects at sea in Pangakalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, which it suspects are part of the wreckage of the AirAsia plane that crashed on December 28. "I can confirm that the wreckage consists of some of the body parts of the AirAsia 0plane that we have been looking for," said Basarnas's Chief Rear Marshal F. Henry Bambang Soelistyo on Saturday. Bambang said the wreckage was located 30 meters below the sea. An AirAsia flight QZ8501 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members on board had lost contact with air traffic control while flying above the Java Sea from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, December 28. After days of searching for the whereabouts of the plane, the search and rescue team confirmed that the plane had crashed in the waters near the Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan. The bodies of some 30 victims aboard the ill-fated AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft have been evacuated from the crash site and transferred to a hospital in Pangkalan Bun. Besides finding the bodies of the victims, joint search and rescue teams have also found debris of the aircraft and other objects. (*)