REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KOTAWARINGIN -- Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said there will be further due action and officials at the ministry found at fault will be dismissed in the wake of the recent AirAsia plane crash.
"We dismissed some officials earlier. There will be more such dismissals," Jonan stated after meeting with officials at Iskandar Airport, Pangkalan Bun, Kotawaringin Barat on Wednesday (8/1).
The minister made the remarks in response to accusations that AirAsia flight QZ 8501, which was headed from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore on December 28 but crashed in the waters near Kalimantan Island, did not have a flight permit for that day.
According to Jonan, airport officials are responsible for the departure and arrival of every plane using the services of the airport.
Till the eleventh day of search operations, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), assisted by teams from several countries, recovered 40 bodies of passengers of the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft.
Chief of the Basarnas F. H. Bambang Soelistyo affirmed here during a press conference on Wednesday that another body was found on the eleventh day of the search operations, which brought the total count of recovered bodies to 40.
An Antara reporter in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, reported that the body was found on Wednesday morning at Area II, located 144 nautical miles, or 260 kilometers, from Iskandar Airport, Pangkalan Bun.
"We were instructed to retrieve the body from the location. A private tugboat found the body," Captain Pilot Indra Lessy noted in Pangkalan Bun last Tuesday.
A Super Puma helicopter of the Indonesian Air Force was scrambled to recover the body from the location at 04.22.81,8 southern latitude and 113.22.89,0 eastern longitude, near Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
Moreover, 12 pieces of debris were also recovered by the Geo Survey vessel using sonar.
On Tuesday (January 6), the 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 pointed out on Tuesday that the second priority area was located outside the first priority search zone.
According to the Basarnas chief, on the tenth day of the search operations, the search and rescue team was deployed in the initially designated four sectors to locate and recover the debris and bodies of victims.
The joint operations search team will be deployed to the second prioritized sector to search for the fuselage and black box of the missing aircraft.
The team in the second prioritized search area has been supported by vessels such as Indonesian warships KRI Hasannudin, KRI Usman Harun, Geo Survey vessel, and Baruna Jaya I ship, which 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 explained.
The AirAsia Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people, went missing on Sunday (December 28) morning after losing contact with air traffic control on its way from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore.
AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 lost contact after the pilot requested to climb to 38 thousand feet from 32 thousand feet to avoid rough weather over the sea between Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan.
The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members. It took off from the Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 5.36 a. m. local time and lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control at 6.17 a. m. local time.
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, including the French FO, three Koreans, a Singaporean, a Briton, and a Malaysian.
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