AirAsia search will continue despite military's withdrawal

Indonesiaโ€s civilian search and rescue agency said today it would continue to search for remains of victims of the AirAsia crash despite yesterday's announcement the Indonesian military would no longer take part.

Please join us on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bangkokpostlearning

Indonesian rescue personnel load a coffin bearing a body of recovered remains of a victim from the underwater wreckage of the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501 at the airport in Pangkalan Bun on January 27, 2015. The Indonesian military on January 27, 2015 called off efforts to recover the wreckage of an AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea last month after failing for several days to lift the fuselage. AFP PHOTO / YUDHA MANX

Search continues, military withdraws, report submitted

Reuters reports that Indonesia’s civilian search and rescue agency said today it would continue to search for remains of victims from the AirAsia passenger jet that crashed into the sea killing all 162 people on board.

“The search operation will continue,” Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters.

Indonesia’s military on Tuesday withdrew from search and recovery efforts a month after the crash.

Meanwhile DPA  reports today that Indonesian investigators have submitted a preliminary report on last month's crash to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

"It has been sent to ICAO but won't be made public," said Nurcahyo Utomo of the National Transport Safety Committee.

Here is an earlier report on the military's withdrawal from the search effort:

Indonesian military calls off AirAsia wreckage recovery

Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, AFP – The Indonesian military on Tuesday called off efforts to recover the wreckage of an AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea last month, after failing to find any more bodies inside the fuselage.

Flight QZ8501 went down on December 28 in stormy weather with 162 people on board, during what was supposed to be a short trip from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Search and rescue teams failed repeatedly in recent days to lift the main body of the Airbus A320-200, where officials had hoped to find the majority of the victims.

The navy, which has provided much of the personnel and equipment for the rescue effort, said Tuesday it was withdrawing as the badly damaged fuselage was too difficult to lift and no more bodies had been located.

Two of the inflatable bags used unsuccessfully to recover the fuselage. AFP photo

"All of our forces are being pulled out," said Rear Admiral Widodo, a navy official overseeing the search and rescue operation. "We apologise to the families of the victims."

So far just 70 bodies have been recovered, and the national search and rescue agency said it would try to find more victims in smaller-scale operations.

"We will continue to try fulfil the hopes of the victims' relatives, but the operation will not be a large-scale one," the agency's head Bambang Soelistyo told AFP.

Military spokesman Fuad Basya said that the plane's body was "destroyed".

"It was soaked in sea water for a while so when we lifted it it was torn apart," he said. "We can no longer find any more bodies."

Since Saturday, salvage teams had been using giant inflatable bags to try to raise the fuselage, which is lying in the sea at a depth of around 30 metres (98 feet).

At one point, they managed to lift the main body to the surface for two minutes before a sling holding it snapped. The fuselage then split in two and sank to the seabed.

There was a huge international hunt for the AirAsia jet, involving ships from countries including the United States and China. But following the discovery of the fuselage by a Singaporean vessel, most foreign assistance was pulled out.

The jet's black boxes – the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – have been recovered, and investigators are analysing them.

สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/461162/airasia-search-will-continue-despite-military-withdrawal