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Surabay/Jakarta, An Indonesian official said objects have been spotted in the sea by a search plane hunting for the missing AirAsia jet.
Jakarta’s Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto said he was informed on Monday that an Australian Orion aircraft had detected suspicious objects near Nangka island, about 160 kilometres southwest of Pangkalan Bun, near central Kalimantan, or 1,120 kilometres from the location where the plane lost contact.
“However, we cannot be sure whether it is part of the missing AirAsia plane,” Putranto says, “We are now moving in that direction, which is in cloudy conditions.”
Earlier in the day, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said the AirAsia plane, which vanished on Sunday with 162 people onboard on its way from Indonesia to Singapore, is likely to be at the bottom of the sea. “We assume the missing jet to be at the bottom of the sea based on the coordinates given to us and our evaluation is that the estimated crash position is in the sea,” Xinhua quoted Bambang as saying.
The aircraft took off at 5.20 a.m. (local time) from the Indonesian city of Surabaya and was to land at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 8.30 a.m. Sunday, officials said.
Indonesian officials said the pilot sought an unusual route due to thunderstorms between Kalimantan and Belitung island, before the aircraft lost contact with the air traffic control.
The aircraft was then at 32,000 feet over Java Sea in Indonesian territory.
IANS/AP
