"Today, the TNI AU, on the orders of the Indonesian Military Commander, will deploy five search aircraft. We have deployed three aircraft on Sunday and added two more on Monday, which took off this morning at 6 a.m. local time," Head of TNI AUs Information Service Air Commodore Hadi Tjahjanto said as quoted by a local news channel here on Monday.
According to Hadi, all aircraft will concentrate their search efforts in the eastern area of Bangka Island in a radius of 3.6 thousand nautical miles. The search team will also look for the AirAisa aircraft in the northern area of Bangka Island in the same search radius.
"Today, we have planned to fly over the search areas with a total radius of 7.2 thousand nautical miles. The Air Force is cooperating with the National SAR Agency (Basarnas) as all rescue teams are coordinating with the Basarnas," Hadi stated during a live Metro TV interview.
Hadi remarked that the Air Force is operating two C-130 Hercules aircraft and a Boeing 737 Surveillance aircraft along with two Super Puma helicopters to search for the missing aircraft on Monday.
The TNI AUs radar had recorded the flight QZ8501, which lost contact at 6:12 a.m. local time, at 247 degrees of the Iskandar Air Base in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province.
On Sunday, two Hercules aircraft had conducted search in Galang Island and Serutu Island, with a total flight time of four hours.
The Boeing 737 Surveillance aircraft also searched the area for three hours after taking off from the Pontianak Air Base, West Kalimantan Province.
Additional search aircraft
Acting Director General of Air Transportation of the Transportation Ministry Joko Muriatmojo stated that Malaysia and Singapore have sent two aircraft to search for the missing QZ8501 aircraft.
"On this second day of search, we have received assistance of the aircraft from Malaysia and Singapore," Joko revealed.
He noted that the Transportation Ministry had opened an emergency post in the Airport Authority Office at the Soekarno Hatta Airport.
The information service for the family and relatives of the QZ8501 passengers has been opened at the Juanda Airport of Surabaya City, East Java Province.
Joko affirmed that the emergency post in Jakarta is focusing on the technical coordination of the search efforts.
The AirAsia QZ8501 is an Airbus A320-200, with registration number PK-AXC, which was piloted by Captain Iriyanto who had clocked 20.5 thousand hours of flying time.
The plane was carrying 155 passengers, including six foreigners and seven crew members, one of which was a French citizen.
AirAsia has opened an Emergency Call Center with the contact number +62 21 29270811 to cater to the calls from the family or relatives of passengers who were aboard the flight.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
