Things continue to look bleak regarding the fate of AirAsia flight QZ8501, which disappeared without a trace yesterday morning.
It seems that Indonesian search and rescue efforts, based upon the coordinate data received from the plane before authorities lost contact with it, are working under the assumption that the plane crashed into the sea.
The Associated Press quoted Indonesia search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo at a press conference earlier today as saying, “Based on the coordinates that we know, the evaluation would be that any estimated crash position is in the sea, and that the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea.”
Military and civil authorities from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia are currently engaged in a desperate search operation for the missing airplane.
Search efforts were at first centered around Belitung island in the Java Sea, but according to a recent update from AFP’s live report, the search area has been expanded.
“We are looking around Bangka, Belitung islands, Singkep, Karimata Strait, as well as the land area west of West Kalimantan,” he said.
Currently search teams are scouring an area where the sea is 40-50 metres (130-160 feet) deep.
Follow our live coverage on QZ8501 for the latest updates
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