Missing plane could be at the ‘bottom of sea’

Indonesian Navy crew prepare their logistics on the Indonesian warship ‘KRI Sultan Hasanuddin-366’ for a search and rescue operation as they join in the search for the missing AirAsia plane near Batam Island, Indonesia, yesterday.

Reuters

Surabaya/Jakarta

A missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said yesterday, as countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search.

The Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday.

Flight QZ8501 did not issue a distress signal and disappeared over the Java Sea five minutes after requesting the change of course, which was refused because of heavy air traffic, officials said.

“Based on our co-ordinates, we expect it is in the sea, so for now (we think) it is on the sea floor,” Soelistyo, head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, told reporters when asked about the missing plane’s likely location.

A senior Indonesian civil aviation source said that authorities had the flight’s radar data and were waiting for search and rescue teams to find debris before they started their investigation into the cause.

Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan said the search was focused on an area of 70 square nautical miles between the island of Belitung, off Sumatra, and Borneo island.

He said the sea there was only 50 to 100m deep, which would be a help in finding the plane. Ships could hunt around the clock, but aircraft were expected to suspend operations at dusk.

Air force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto said searchers were checking a report of an oil slick off Belitung. They had picked up an emergency locator signal off the south of Borneo but no subsequent signal was found, he said.

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

The disappearance caps a disastrous year for Malaysia-affiliated airlines. Indonesia AirAsia is 49% owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline’s Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002. The group’s shares in Kuala Lumpur closed 8.5% lower.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, visiting relatives of people on the flight in Surabaya, told reporters the search by 30 ships and 15 aircraft, about halfway between Surabaya and Singapore, was being hampered by bad weather.

Anger grew among about 100 relatives at a crisis centre at the airport in Indonesia’s second-largest city.

“We only need clear information every hour on where they are going,” said Franky Chandra, who has a sibling and three friends on the flight, referring to the search teams.

“We’ve been here for two days but the information is unclear. That’s all we need.”

Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea have sent ships and aircraft to join the search.

In a statement on its website, China’s Defence Ministry said it had sent a warship to the South China Sea and planes “have begun preparatory work” for search operations.

Soelistyo said Indonesia might not have the best technology to search underwater and had accepted offers of help from the US, Britain and France.

Flight QZ8501 was travelling at 32,000ft (9,753m) and had asked to fly at 38,000ft to avoid clouds.

Permission was not given at the time due to traffic in the area. Five minutes later, at 6.17am on Sunday (2317 GMT Saturday), the plane lost contact with air traffic control, transport officials said.

Data from Flightradar24.com, which tracks airline flights in real time, showed several nearby aircraft were at altitudes ranging from 34,000 to 36,000ft at the time, levels not unusual for cruising aircraft.