AirAsia QZ8501: Officials confirm debris found is from missing plane

AirAsia has confirmed that the debris found in the sea is from its missing Airbus A320 aircraft. Flight QZ8501 disappeared en route from Indonesia’s second largest city, Surabaya, to Singapore during a storm early on Sunday with 162 people aboard. An air force plane saw a “shadow” on the seabed believed to be that of the missing plane, search chief Bambang Soelistyo told a news conference in Jakarta. In Surabaya, relatives of the missing hugged each other and burst into tears as they watched footage of a body floating in the sea on a television feed of Mr Soelistyo’s press conference. The search chief said today just three bodies had been recovered so far, after another official claimed 40 had been found.

We regret to inform that the National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501.

AirAsia

Navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir told reporters earlier that according to naval radio a warship had recovered more than 40 bodies from the sea. But he later said that report was a miscommunication by his staff. AirAsia’s chief executive Tony Fernandes expressed his grief over the first fatal incident to hit the region’s biggest budget airline. “My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501,” Fernandes said on Twitter. Search chief Soelistyo said all efforts were now being concentrated on the location where the “shadow” and debris had been found, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of the town of Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan on Borneo island.

My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am.

AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes

World 8501