Aircraft tail AirAsia QZ 8501 Successfully Transported from the Java Sea

TRANSINDONESIA.CO – The National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) Republic of Indonesia today confirmed that they successfully lifted the tail piece of QZ 8501’s aircraft from the Java Sea. The tail piece has been transported to Pangkalan Bun and will be handed over to Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) for further investigation.

The sonar equipments continued to detect more objects which are suspected to be the plane’s front section and detected pings suspected to be from the plane’s black box flight recorders near the location where the tail was found. Sea divers, vessels and helicopters were deployed to observe the focused searched area.

This morning, the seven remains which were recovered by BASARNAS yesterday (9/1/2015) arrived in Surabaya and were transferred to Bhayangkara Hospital for identification.

Earlier today, the Minister of Transportation, Ignasius Jonan also visited the crisis center at East Java Region Police Headquarter to have a direct dialogue with the families of QZ 8501’s passengers. During the dialogue, several family members asked the Government to optimise SAR operations. Jonan assured the families that according to Indonesia’s President – Joko Widodo’s orders – SAR operations will not stop until all passengers are recovered and sent back to their families.

The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Police Department of Republic of Indonesia (DVI POLRI) today announced that they were able to identify two more remains known as: Susandhini Liman (female) and Justin Geovanni (male).

To date, BASARNAS has confirmed to have recovered a total of 48 remains of which 29 remains have been identified by DVI POLRI and 19 remains are still being identified.

AirAsia Indonesia would like to take this opportunity to urge the public seeking progress on the search and evacuation and identification process of QZ 8501 passengers to refer solely to official information from BASARNAS and DVI POLRI.

You may also obtain substantiated information only from authorised AirAsia social media accounts: Facebook (www.facebook.com/AirAsia) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/AirAsia)

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends of our passengers and colleagues on board QZ 8501.(nov)