Moscow (ANTARA News) - A diving team of the Russian Emergencies Ministry has set off to the area of an alleged crash of the Malaysian AirAsia Airbus in Indonesia for deep water searches, the ministry's spokesman told TASS on Saturday (Jan. 3).

"A team of Russian rescuers is on the way to the site of the Airbus recovery operation for deep sea examination aboard the Indonesian ship Onyx," Alexander Drobyshevsky said.

The team includes 17 rescuers, both from the Tsentrospas unit and the Leader Centre of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

"All of them have special equipment and machinery," he said. "A new remotely operated vehicle /ROV/ Falcon designed for deepwater operation will be delivered to the search site."

Earlier in the day, a multi-discipline search and rescue team of the Russian Emergencies Ministry arrived in the island of Kalimantan /Borneo/ where the Russian rescuers' base had been put up on the shore outside the port of Kumai.

On December 28, an AirAsia airliner A320-200 disappeared from radar screens about 40 minutes after its departure from Indonesia to Singapore, presumably crashing in the area of Kalimantan (Borneo) Island. The jet was carrying 155 passengers and seven crewmembers.

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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