Divers examine AirAsia jet fuselage, search for bodies

[webfact]

Divers examine AirAsia jet fuselage, search for bodies
By FADLAN SYAM

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian navy divers plunged into the sea at dawn Thursday to examine a large chunk of the AirAsia jet's fuselage, aiming to bring bodies believed to be trapped inside to the surface, the director of the search and rescue agency said.

The day before, a Singaporean navy ship had spotted the 30-meter-long (100-foot-long) section of the plane body with a wing attached on the bottom of the Java Sea. Rescuers believe that most of the bodies of the 162 people on board are inside.

So far, only 50 bodies have been recovered from the Dec. 28 crash less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. Most of the victims are Indonesian.

At least 15 divers descended to the seabed at a depth of 28 meters (92 feet) Wednesday morning to examine wreckage, calculate its weight and search for bodies inside, said Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, the operation director at the National Search and Rescue Agency.

When corpses are found, the divers will try to put them in individual body bags, which rescuers on ships will then hoist to the surface, he said.

He said it appeared that some parts of the fuselage have been covered with silt.

The plane's "black boxes" — the flight data recorder and cockpit flight recorder — were retrieved on Monday and Tuesday. They will be key to learning what caused the plane to crash. Bad weather is a suspected factor.

Nine aircraft and 12 ships were involving the search operation Thursday, including two U.S. ships and one each from Singapore and China.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-15

[webfact]

Singapore navy ship finds main wreckage of crashed AirAsia plane



SINGAPORE: -- A Republic of Singapore Navy ship has found the main wreckage of the AirAsia plane that crashed in the Java Sea two weeks ago.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that the Remotely Operated Vehicle of RSN ship, MV Swift Resue, took photos that showed the wing and a portion of the fuselage which had words on it.

Dr Ng said that Singapore has informed Basarnas, the Indonesian search authority, so it can begin to recover the missing parts of Flight QZ8501.

“The accident is a tragic event resulting in the loss of many lives. I hope that with the fuselage located, some form of closure can come to the families of the victims to ease their grief,” said Dr Ng. He also thanked all the Singapore Armed Forces servicemen who were part of the multinational search party for QZ8501.

Dr Ng then posted a video two hours later detailing his conversation with SLTC Chow Khim Chong, the Commander Task Group for underwater search operations on board the MV Swift Rescue.

The SAF has deployed more than 400 personnel, two RSAF C-130 aircraft, two Super Puma helicopters, five navy ships and a six-man Autonomous Underwater Vehicle team in the operation.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes reacted to the news on his Twitter account, saying he was “gutted and devastated” at seeing the aircraft.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/singapore-navy-ship-finds-main-wreckage-crashed-airasia-plane-2


-- Thai PBS 2015-01-15

[snottgoblin]

Now perhaps those who are grieving will at least have some remains so as to be able to conduct funeral rites and end some of their grief.

But surely the best hope is now flight recorders arr recovered and large aircraft pieces the truth will emerge regarding this tragic accident.

Edited January 15, 2015 by snottgoblin

[smedly]

Tragic no matter how you look at it

Seems the tail was violently ripped from the main fuselage which means this main section of the plane sank very quickly, be interesting to see how far away the tail section was from this, might indicate if it ripped apart in the air or on impact with the water

RIP