Reports from Surabaya say more bodies and remains have been found from the recent AirAsia QZ8501 plane crash, sending shock-waves through the Asian aviation industry. Local fisherman reportedly identified human remains from the ill-fated AirAsia jet crash.
The news comes after reports that the Indonesian military has given up the search for more bodies amid tough weather conditions in the Java Sea. Indonesia’s civilian search and rescue organization BASARNAS is conducting evacuation operations at this time.
The search operations have been shifted to the Makasssar Strait and to the North Java Sea, where fisherman reported finding bones from human feet. The vestiges were found in separate locations, reported The Straits Times.
“One bone found this morning paired with [the other]. Both were found with trainers of the same brand, black Adidas with a yellow base,” Indonesian search and rescue team officer Fauzan Mahmud said.
Mahmud noted that the bones were located ten miles away from each other. Fisherman in the area revealed finding what was suspected to be an AirAsia overhead cabin from the QZ 8501 flight, which took off from Surabaya, Indonesia for a short flight to Singapore’s Changi Airport.
“As the stream continues to move to the north, the search will most likely expand as far as the Central Sulawesi region,” said chief of operations in BASARNAS’s Palu branch, George LM Randang.
The new findings will be a guide for new search operations in the area.
In a search update by AirAsia, the Malaysia-headquartered carrier said the newly found body parts will be identified in Surabaya.
After making a brief statement about what has been unearthed from the black boxes, i.e. the cockpit recorder and the flight recorder, investigators are now looking at the QZ 8501 flight data recorders to determine what caused the crash.
Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan said in an earlier report in January that the radar data revealed AirAsia the plane changed its flight path and requested for permission to make a steep climb to 38,000 feet. The climb caused the AirAsia Airbus stalling in mid-air and spiraling downward into the Java Sea
Bad weather may have been a cause for the crash since the plane's captain made an odd request to climb to 38,000 ft. according to experts.
