Basarnas Stop Operation Search Victims AirAsia

Basarnas Stop Operation Search Victims AirAsia

Jakarta - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) will consider the termination of the search operation bodies QZ8501 AirAsia passengers falling around Strait Karimata, Central Kalimantan, the search operation the 16th day.

Basarnas Chief Marshal TNI F. Henry Bambang Sulistyo said search operations termination decision is based on the discovery of the bodies of victims whose bodies have started to decrease in intensity in recent days.

"Of all need careful consideration, on the one hand we want to find the bodies of the passengers, but on the other hand in a search operation is not possible without a time limit," said Sulistyo after a press conference on Monday (12/1) morning at the office Basarnas, Jalan Angkasa, Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

However, Sulistyo can not tell when a search operation bodies of passengers is terminated. "We have to coordinate with the government, considering the results of the evaluation of the members of divers and we also will listen to input from the families of passengers," he said.

Currently, Basarnas already started to reduce the power of search operations fleet, especially assistance from foreign countries to facilitate the search strategy.

The last few days, said Sulistyo, it concentrates finding the location of the tail as a priority sector to find the black box components, namely the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). "But that does not mean other sectors in the area we stop searching the bodies of the passengers, we are still looking at the area of mission 1, 2, 3, and 4," he said.

Sulistyo explained, the combined principal operations and passenger aircraft search QZ8501 AirAsia has been evaluated and extended up to three times. "If according to the Act and the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) are applicable, the basic operation must be evaluated every 7 days, and then we can decide whether we can continue operating or stop," he said.