Jakarta, Dec 29 — Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Environment Indroyono Susilo has stated that the Baruna Jaya IV vessel will also help search for the Air Asia plane flight QZ 8501 which lost contact since Sunday morning.
“The ship (Baruna Jaya IV) will immediately leave for the location that is expected to be the area where the plane with 155 passengers has lost contact,” the minister told Antara here on Sunday.
According to Indroyono, the Baruna Jaya IV is very sophisticated, especially for the search to the bottom of the sea.
The vessel is equipped with advanced equipment to carry out research tasks of oceanography, ocean floor maps, data of ocean currents, climate and sea transport.
He added that the Baruna Jaya is also equipped with instruments that can capture the signal from the plane not only on the surface of the sea, but also to the bottom of the ocean.
The AirAsia traveling from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, has lost contact over the Java Sea between Tanjung Pandan on Belitung island, Sumatra, and Pontianak, Kalimantan island.
“The plane has lost contact at 06:17 a.m local time,” the Indonesian transportation ministrys Acting Director General for Air Transportation Affairs Djoko Murdjatmojo said.
Djoko remarked that the plane departed from Surabayas Juanda airport at 05:36 Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB) to Singapore. The AirAsia Airbus A320-200 followed the flight path that has previously been defined.
At 6:12 a.m local time, the plane was still traceable in air traffic control tower of Soekarno Hatta Airport at a height of 38,000 feet.
Then, at 6:16 a.m local time, the aircraft was still tracked on radar. He said that Captain Iriyanto asked permission to raise the height due to bad weather.
Djoko remarked that the aircraft disappeared from radar observations at 6:18 a.m local time. At that time, air traffic control officer monitored the presence of the plane, but the aircraft has lost contact at 7:55 a.m local time.
