REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Locating the fuselage and black box of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was the key task focused in the priority area spanning 1,575 square miles, the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) authority stated.
The search for the fuselage was carried out by the Basarnas-led operation, while the black box-related task will be handled by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), Basarnas Chief F.H. Bambang Sulistyo remarked here on Friday.
In conducting its mission, the KNKT has deployed the Kaladaya vessel, he stated, adding that 59 teams of divers got involved in the search efforts, Sulistyo noted.
The mission also involved the Baruna Jaya research vessel, MV Geo Survey vessel, and KN Kadayat vessel as they are equipped with underwater detection systems, he stated.
The three vessels are equipped with scanning sonar and pinger locator, he said, adding that the evacuation of bodies of the plane crash victims, their luggage, and debris of the ill-fated jet were also being carried out.
The objects that the search crews have, so far, discovered from the waters of Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province, are still the bodies and luggage of the victims and aircraft's debris.
The ill-fated jet carrying 162 people, including seven crew members, lost contact with Jakarta's air traffic control tower on December 28 in its flight from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore.
Since the day of its disappearance, Indonesia has launched a massive search and rescue operation, which is also joined by several foreign countries.
As of Friday morning, 10 bodies of the plane's victims have been discovered and evacuated from the waters of Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province.
Eight of them have been sent to Surabaya from Pangkalan Bun to be identified by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team members.
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