An Indonesian search team may soon find the missing AirAsia flight after it has reportedly located the crash site. Flight QZ8501 was on its way to Singapore from Surabaya in Indonesia when it went missing.
According to Inquisitr, rescue teams, which have come to search for the missing aircraft, stated that the site where it may have crashed is found near East Belitung, a province in Indonesia. The site was reportedly believed to be where the plane ended based on the data given to the Basarnas Bangka Belitung, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency.
In a report by The Jakarta Post, Febi Imam Saputra of the Bangka Belitung noted, "If we look at the map, these coordinates refer to an area around 20 nautical miles from East Belitung."
The aircraft, an Airbus A320-200, was carrying 162 passengers en route to Singapore. Huffington Post reported that the plane last communicated with traffic control at 6:12 a.m. to inform the officers that there is a predicted bad weather and the pilots are considering increasing their flight's altitude to 38,000 feet from its original 32,000.
According to Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting Director General of Transportation for Indonesia, the plane was still on radar four minutes after but abruptly disappeared. The lack of a distress call baffled transportation and air traffic officials.
When news of the missing plane came out, numerous rescue teams came to help with the search mission. "We received information from Basarnas in Jakarta that contact had been lost with an AirAsia flight over Bangka Belitung waters at 6:17 a.m. local time," stated Febi in the Antara news agency.
He added, "We then dispatched a vessel with a search and rescue team of 22 members to check the information." The team proceeded to the area in East Belitung to look for the aircraft.
However, Malaysian officials quickly quashed the rumors saying that the plane has been found. Channel News Asia reported that Liow Tiong Lai, Malaysia's Transport Minister has "dismissed claims that flight QZ8501 has been found."
Officials are still investigating what caused the disappearance. While it was reported that lightning strikes were on the flight path of the plane, retired pilot Elmo Jayawardena noted that, "lightning cannot take out a plane."
The city of Jakarta in Indonesia has joined the country's efforts in looking for the missing plane as well as Singapore, who had already sent a C-130 plane. As of the moment, no wreckage has been found in the rumored crash site and all rescue teams have widened the area of their search.
