News Digest

'Two big parts' of AirAsia plane found, crash may have been caused by ice

Recovery teams have found two big parts of AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed into the sea last weekend with 162 people on board, Indonesia’s top search official said Saturday. Search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told reporters that the huge relief operation came across the objects in the Java Sea off the island of Borneo late on Friday night. He said the larger of the objects was around 10 metres by five metres. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s weather officials said the formation of ice caused by extreme bad weather may have caused the crash of the plane. According to a 14-page report issued by Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), a preliminary analysis of weather data suggested that the aircraft had flown into storm clouds, which had caused icing and damage to the engines.

We are lowering an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) underwater to get an actual picture of the objects detected on the sea floor. All are at the depth of 30 metres.

Search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo

The meteorological analysis, authored by BMKG’s head of research and development professor Edvin Aldrian, however, was not conclusive. Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea early Sunday morning while flying from Surabaya to Singapore. There were 155 passengers on board, including 16 children and one infant. The passengers comprise 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton. As of last night, 30 bodies had been recovered although the recovery of the wreckage was ongoing. Some of the bodies were recovered wearing seat belts, suggesting that the plane may have suffered an aerodynamic stall rather than an in-flight breakup at high altitudes

This is just one analysis of what likely happened based on available meteorological data, and is not the final determination on the cause of the incident.

A statement from Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG)