Indonesia's search and rescue agency Basarnas said at a press conference on Wednesday it will continue to search for the bodies of the passengers of Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, a day after the country's military said it was halting the recovery operations.
"Search operations will carry on even though the military has pulled out," Barsanas chief Sambang Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta. "Our main aim is to find the bodies."
Some of Basarnas's ships have come back to shore after 30 days out at sea to restock, he said, but that was not a sign that the search operation is ending. "No way," said Mr Soelistyo.
He said the recovery operation will resume on Saturday and will not end unless under instructions from President Joko Widodo and after meeting with "all parties concerned".
Bambang Soelistyo, the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), told reporters on Wednesday that search teams were not affected by the military's pull-out.
They were taking a few days' rest but would resume their operation on Saturday at the latest.
"After seven days we will evaluate whether the operation will be extended or shut down. It will depend on the dynamics of what happens within the seven days," he said.
"If we can find one or two more bodies, that means we have the opportunity to prolong the operation," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Authorities had initially thought that most of the missing bodies would be inside the sunken fuselage, but now believe that is no longer the case.
Agency official S B Supriyadi told AFP news agency that the bodies "could be on the seabed, or have been swept away by waves and currents".
Basarnas are using helicopters, four ships and both professional and volunteer divers in their search.
The team identifying victims who have been found will still remain in operation and stationed in Surabaya, said Mr Soelistyo.
He added that victims' families had been informed of the possible deadline and understand the situation.
BBC Indonesian's Pinta Karana says that families have welcomed efforts to continue the search. But some have also expressed concern about the possible deadline.
Forensic expert Dr Anton Castilani, head of Indonesia's Disaster Identification Unit who was also present at the press conference, said it was getting more difficult to identify the bodies recovered.
Indonesia's military said on Tuesday it would stop the operation, after the team failed to float the fuselage after repeated attempts and that no more bodies had been found in the previous days.
Only 70 bodies of the plane's 162 passengers and crew had been recovered so far.
The Airbus A320-200 crashed in the Java Sea in stormy weather on Dec 28, less than half way into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-biggest city, to Singapore. All 162 people onboard were killed.
Except for seven foreigners, all were Indonesian. The foreigners were three Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Briton and a Frenchman – co-pilot Remi Plesel.
Malaysia, Singapore, US, China, Japan and France joined the multinational search and rescue operation at one point.
The Indonesian navy had provided much of the personnel and equipment for the rescue effort. Mr Soelistyo said on Wednesday that Basarnas is deploying new boats to the recovery mission and installing underwater devices to them.
"By law, if within seven days we can't find more victims, we have to evaluate and decide whether to continue or stop," he told reporters. "But if any third party requests us to continue, we will."
The plane's cockpit is suspected to be located in one of the nine coordinates identified, Mr Soelistyo said.
"What we're searching for isn't just the cockpit, but what's inside the cockpit," he said, referring to the bodies of the pilots, Captain Iriyanto and his deputy Remi Plesel.
The team will also try to lift the plane's fuselage from the bottom of the sea, he said.
Wednesday 28 January 2015
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/airasia-flight-qz8501-indonesias-basarnas-says-continue-search-crash
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