"KRI Bung Tomo at 13:50 p.m. discovered a floating object, which we believe was the emergency exit door of the aircraft," Chief of National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) FHB Bambang Sulistyo was quoted as saying by local television news channel on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Sulistyo, the ship and a Basarnas helicopter have been deployed to jointly search for the missing flight and ascertain the nature of objects found.
The Basarnas Chief added that Bung Tomo recovered the object at 14:00 P.M.
Basarnas has declared the location of the findings to be the next spot for search operation.
"As the SAR coordinator, Im 95 percent sure that the object derived was part of the aircraft," Sulistyo.
He noted that although he himself has not seen the object, communications with several SAR commanders present in the nearest area are leading to the conclusion that the object could be an emergency exit door.
Basarnas has deployed a team to examine ten objects that are suspected to be the debris of AirAsia flight QZ8501, which remains missing with 162 people aboard.
The ten objects floating in Pangkalan Bun waters were spotted by Rear Marshal Agus Dwi Putranto of the Indonesian Air Force while flying over Pangkalan Bun by a CN-235 aircraft.
The objects were spotted about 10 kilometers from the location where the AirAsia flight QZ8501 made the last contact.
(Reported by Bayu Prasetyo/Uu.INE/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
