Missing AirAsia aircraft Search operation to expand today
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
Singapore, December 29 2014:
On the second day of the search operation, seven zones were patrolled today.
However, so far, the search has been fruitless.
"Our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea," said Bambang Sulistyo, the head of the search and rescue agency.
That belief is based on the plane's flight track and last known coordinates.
The Indonesian Government has announced that search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 with 162 people aboard will expand on Tuesday.
"Four additional areas will be searched," the National search and rescue agency said.
German insurance giant Allianz confirmed that it is the lead insurer of the missing AirAsia jet.
"We can confirm that Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty UK is the lead reinsurer for AirAsia, for aviation hull and liability insurance," Allianz said in a statement.
Even as the search for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 continues, reports suggest that the airlines' in-flight magazine had once claimed that its flights could never get lost.
The Independent quoted the article as saying, "Pilot training in AirAsia is continuous and very thorough.
Rest assured that your captain is well prepared to ensure your plane will never get lost." The report says the article was later pulled out after facing flak and passengers calling it 'distasteful' .
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi wrote on Twitter - "Malaysia related accidents are creating a Bermuda Triangle like mystery arnd Malaysia " .
Search officials said prospects are bleak for missing AirAsia jet flight QZ8501 .
Speaking at the conclusion of his Sunday Angelus, the Pope said, "With affection and prayers, I am close to their family members and those who are living through these difficult situations with apprehension and suffering as well those who are involved in the rescue operations," Pope Francis prayed for the passengers of the missing Asian airplane as hopes began to fade that anyone might be found alive.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla added that the search for the plane and passengers of AirAsia flight QZ8501, which lost contact with air traffic control between Surabaya and Singapore on Sunday, would continue without a time limit.
Even as Indonesia's vice president said his Government is battling to find the missing passenger jet, relatives of those on-board face a second night of uncertainty.
Dozens of scarlet-eyed family members packed into a cramped annex of Indonesia's Surabaya airport, where the flight took off early on Sunday morning, are desperately hoping for some good news.
Search officials have now shifted their focus to the oil spots traced off Belitung island in the Java Sea, Indonesian Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto told AFP.
They are yet to make "sure whether it was avtur (aviation fuel) from the AirAsia plane or from a vessel because that location is a shipping line" .
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