REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The black box of the AirAsia QZ8501 is presumably located in proximity to the site where the tail of the aircraft was found, stated the search and rescue authorities.
"I must make a presumption that the black box will not be away from the position where the tail of the aircraft has been found," Chief of the Indonesia Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Vice Marshal F.H. Bambang Soelistyo stated here on Wednesday (7/1).
He reiterated that it was a mere presumption, but it was necessary to ensure that the search operation was headed in the right direction.
He noted that there was a logic behind making day-to-day presumptions to ensure that the operation ran successfully.
"We must be optimistic. Presumption is also made based on analysis and experience," he noted.
Bambang Soelistyo earlier announced that the tail of the ill-fated aircraft had been recovered.
The rescue workers discovered parts of the AirAsia Flight QZ8501's tail in the additional priority area, he remarked.
"This discovery has been confirmed," he informed journalists here on Wednesday in a press briefing on the latest developments of the Basarnas-led search mission to find the victims and fuselage of the ill-fated jet.
Soelistyo said the tail of the aircraft carrying 162 people on board that crashed in the waters of Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province, on December 28, 2014, was not found in the first priority area.
Instead, parts of the aircraft's tail were recovered in the "second additional priority sector", he confirmed.
A massive search mission has been launched since the day of the deadly crash. Indonesia is being assisted by some foreign countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United States, China, Japan, and Russia in the efforts to recover the wreckage of the aircraft and bodies of the victims.
Until the eleventh day of search operations on Wednesday, the search and rescue teams, including those from several foreign countries, have recovered 40 bodies of the AirAsia passengers.
Bambang Soelistyo noted that another body was found on the eleventh day of the search operations, which takes the total count of recovered bodies so far to 40.
An Antara reporter in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan remarked that the body was found on Wednesday morning at Area II, located 144 nautical miles, or 260 kilometers, from the Iskandar Airport, Pangkalan Bun.
"We were instructed to retrieve the body from the location. A private tugboat found the body," Captain Pilot Indra Lessy remarked in Pangkalan Bun on Tuesday.
Moreover, 12 pieces of debris were recovered by the Geo Survey vessel using sonar.
On Tuesday (Jan. 6), Basarnas had broadened its search area for the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft by including a second priority area around Kumai Bay, Pangkalan Bun waters, Central Kalimantan.
Soelistyo noted on Tuesday that the second priority area is located outside the first priority search area.
According to Soelistyo, on the tenth day of the search operation, the search and rescue team was deployed in the initially designated four sectors to locate and evacuate the debris and bodies of the victims.
With regard to the second prioritized sector, the joint operations search team will be deployed to locate the fuselage and black box of the missing aircraft.
In the second prioritized search area, the team has been supported by vessels such as Indonesian warships: KRI Hasannudin, KRI Usman Harun, Geo Survey vessel, and Baruna Jaya I ship that are equipped with devices for underwater search operations.
"They are working together to search for the missing aircraft using sonar and pinger locater devices," Soelistyo noted.
The plane, piloted by Captain Iriyanto and First Officer (FO) Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Seven foreigners were among the passengers. The foreign nationals comprised three Koreans, a Singaporean, a British, a Malaysian, and a French FO.
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