An official from Indonesia's national search and rescue agency, Basarnas, in Medan, North Sumatra monitors computer screens as part of search efforts for AirAsia flight QZ8501 which went missing off the waters of Indonesia today. – AFP pic, December 28, 2014
Indonesian authorities in the Bangka Belitung province fear search and rescue efforts for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 will be hampered by bad weather and big waves.
Indonesian news portal Kompas.com quoted National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Bangka Belitung spokesman Jhoni Supriadi in Pangkalpinang as saying that waves were as high as two metres, delaying the SAR team from reaching the location where they believe the plane had crashed.
It was earlier reported that the missing Airbus A320 was believed to have crashed at the location 03.22.46 South and 108.50.07 East, in waters around 80 to 100 nautical miles from Belitung while flying from Surabaya to Singapore this morning.
Kompas.com reported that under normal weather conditions, it would take four hours to reach the location, and in bad weather, the time to get there would double.
A Basarnas team left for the location with a number of reporters onboard a vessel from the Pangkalbalam port.
It was reported that the missing flight had circled over the sea near Belitung to avoid a storm before it experienced severe turbulence and is believed to have crashed into the sea.
There are 155 passengers and seven crew members aboard the Singapore-bound plane, which had lost contact with the Surabaya air traffic control after it flew out of the east Java city at 5.20am Indonesian time. It was due to land at 8.30am Singapore time.
Indonesian nationals make up 155 of all 162 onboard, with the others comprising three South Koreans, one Malaysian, one Singaporean, one Briton and one French. – December 28, 2014.
source:::http://www.themalaysianinsider.com
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