Indonesia is optimistic that it has located large sections of an Indonesia Airbus A320 aircraft that crashed on the Surabaya-Singapore route last on Sunday 28 December while operating flight QZ8501.

The objects, identified by sonar, lie on the floor of the Java Sea to the west of Borneo, says Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) in a series of statements.

Rough seas have prevented divers from descending for a close inspection of the objects, which lie at the relatively shallow depth of 30m, but the agency believes conditions could improve on Sunday 4 January.

Basarnas has made no mention of hearing transmissions from homing beacons attached to the down aircraft’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

The objects are of differing sizes and dimensions, but are clustered in the same rough area. The biggest object appears to have a length of 18m, a width of 5.4m, and a height of 2.2m, the smallest a length of 94.m, a width of 4.8m, and a height of 0.4m.

The two dimensional object has a length of 7.2m and a width of 0.5m.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s weather agency issued a report speculating that the cause of the crash could have been due to engine icing related to the presence of thunderstorm cells around the doomed flight. The report, however, adds that engine icing is seen as one of many possible causes.

The report adds that turbulence on 28 December was not likely to be a major factor in the crash.

Indonesia has also announced that Indonesia AirAsia did not have explicit permission to operate the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sundays, but it is not clear what bearing (if any) this disclosure has on the disaster. Singapore, for its part, says that the carrier was cleared to operate the route on Sundays.

Flight QZ8501 crashed during stormy conditions on Sunday 28 December. All 155 passengers and seven crew are believed to have been lost. Dozens of bodies, passenger luggage, and small objects have been recovered thus far.

Source: Cirium Dashboard

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