Search for missing AirAsia plane expands with more aircraft, ships joining

JAKARTA/PANGKALPINANG, Indonesia, Dec. 30 (NsNewsWire) — More countries were sending planes and ships on Tuesday to join an expanding search operation in the Java Sea off Indonesia where an AirAsia plane disappeared as the sea and aerial hunt entered its third day.

Around 30 ships, 15 fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia had been scouring the missing flight QZ8501 in some 10,000 square nautical miles on Tuesday, said Bambang Sulistyo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, reports Xinhua.

He told a local TV that the search would be expanded to land areas with helicopters beginning to comb land on Kalimantan as well as islands in the area. So far the search has been focused on the Java Sea between the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Meanwhile, more countries were joining the international search efforts for the Airbus A320-200, which was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia’s East Java province to Singapore on Sunday with 162 people aboard.

China said on Monday it would send a warship and an Air Force jet to help look for the missing AirAsia plane.

A Navy frigate on a routine patrol in the South China Sea was heading to the waters where flight QZ8501 went missing, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

An Air Force plane was making preparations and coordinating with the countries on the flight route, it added.

South Korea was also sending a surveillance plane to join the Indonesia-led search operation.