Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Barsanas) says it is "95% sure" that debris found in waters off Kalimantan is from the missing Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320.
Speaking at a press conference, agency chief Bambang Soelistyo confirmed the information, after a series of pictures of floating debris were released. He adds that one of the objects is believed to be that of the aircraft’s emergency exit door.
Soelistyo says water in the area is between 25-30m deep and that 11 divers are being deployed to the location.
“If beyond that we need more modern equipment, I will ask for such equipment,” he adds.
A source had earlier told Flightglobal that Singapore warships equipped with sonar equipment are making their way to the location where possible debris from flight QZ8501 has been spotted. This is located in waters 50-70km off Pangkalan Bun, in Central Kalimantan province, and about 10km from the last point of contact the aircraft had with air traffic control.
Barsanas has been searching over a large portion of the Java Sea, including the areas around Bangka and Belitung islands.
On Twitter, AirAsia group chief Tony Fernandes says: "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am.”
QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28 December while enroute from Surabaya to Singapore, after its pilots requested to ascend from 32,000ft to 38,000ft to avoid stormy weather.
The 2008-built A320, registered PK-AXC, was powered by CFM International CFM 56-6B engines and had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours. There were 155 passengers and seven crew members on board.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
