Some 60 Ships Deployed to Search for AirAsia Plane Debris

Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan (Antara) - Some 60 ships, eight planes and four helicopters were deployed on Saturday to search for debris and remains of passengers from the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501, according to the National Search and Rescue Board (Basarnas). Basarnas training and operation director SB Supriyadi said at the main command post at Pangkalan Bun on Saturday that the search area has been extended from 90x150 miles to 90x210 miles. "So far, some 22 bodies have been evacuated," Supriyadi noted, adding that it remains unclear whether an object found at the bottom of the sea is the tail or body of the plane because rough seas and bad weather conditions hampered the search. The AirAsia flight vanished from radar on Dec 28, 2014 while flying from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore with 155 passengers and seven crew members. Bodies and plane debris have been recovered in waters close to Pangkalan Bun in central Kalimantan, as recovery efforts continue amid harsh weather conditions in the Java Sea. The latest disappearance, and subsequent crash of the AirAsia aircraft, has prompted aviation experts to renew their call to change the process of tracking commercial jetliners. Basarnas Chief Rear Marshal F Henry Bambang Soelistyo said in Jakarta on Friday that two Russian planes have arrived to help in the search for victims. "Today, we received Russia's assistance in the form of two planes," Soelistyo said. He noted that one of the Russian planes is capable of landing on water. "This plane is very useful for evacuation purposes," he added. (*)