AirAsia Flight 8501 Crash Heard As 'Loud Bang', Say Local Fishermen

AirAsia is believed to have crashed into the Java Sea after a fisherman in the area said he heard a loud bang on the day that flight QZ 8501 crashed. He was not aware of the AirAsia Flight 8501 crash at the time (6:40 local time), but he learned about it when he returned to his village.

The fisherman's account of the crash gave the search and rescue team directed the location of the AirAsia QZ 8501 to the bottom of the sea. His account of the sighting of the crashed jet while he was at sea was published in a newspaper headquartered in Belitung, an Island in Indonesia.

According to the BBC, "In what may further be of help to search officials, there are reports that two fishermen had heard a "loud bang" on Sunday - the day the AirAsia flight QZ 8501 went missing. Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo Tuesday said that officials would be speaking to those two fishermen who had reported hearing a loud explosion on Sunday."

Website Bangka Tribun News confirmed that the AirAsia crashing into the sea was heard by two fisherman: "There are fishermen who heard the explosion, but not yet certain."

IBT added, "the fishermen could not ascertain the source of the explosion and assumed that the bang came from within a five-mile radius between Coconut Island and Bird Bath Beach, Damar."

The AirAsia flight lost contact with air traffic radar while flying over the Java Sea, in the area between Kalimantan and Java islands.

"I heard a big boom followed by some kind of white cloud. I didn't think it was a cloud we normally see during the rainy season," a fisherman named Rahmat told Epoch Times.

The Kampung Kubu villager recognized the AirAsia crash footage on TV the next day and he thought what he saw might be the missing AirAsia.

"After I heard the news, I reported it immediately to the local chief," Rahmat said.