AirAsia Tragedy: 2 More Bodies Total 40, 20-Day Expiry On Black Boxes?
Two more bodies have been found raising the count to 40. Experts say after two weeks bodies will sink into sea. But the search for the Black Box is ongoing. So far no pings have been heard from the crucial boxes believed to be buried under the seabed. Strong currents have kept ships from deploying at key areas from where the Black Box can be pinged.
"Time is of the essence," said Suryadi B. Supriyadi, National Search and Rescue Agency's director of operations. "But it seems like it is hard to beat the weather," CBSNews reported.
The search for the Black Boxes is on and the batteries on the flight recorders and cockpit data are estimated to last another 20 days, since 10 days have already passed.
"The tail has been found," Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the rescue agency, known as (BASARNAS). He told reporters at a press conference, "the tail numbers from the Airbus A320 were visible on the wreckage, which was found in 111 feet of water." An image released from the wreckage showed an inverted "A' believed to be part of the AirAsia mark 'PKAC,' reports NPR.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said on Wednesday that if the correct part of the tail had been found "then the black box should be there." Writing on his Twitter account, he added: "We need to find all parts soon so we can find all [our] guests to ease the pain of our families. That still is our priority."
Jean-Paul Troadec, who was in charge of the official French air accident investigation agency at the time of the Air France 447 crash, told NBC News, "the black boxes are located, they would contain "maybe 90 per cent of the information you need in the investigation,"
Currently, a total of 40 bodies have been found, and the remaining 120 or so are believed to be in the fuselage.
