AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 'At The Bottom Of The Sea:' Plane Wreckage Yet To Be Found; Indonesian Officials Expand Search Area [PHOTO]

The missing AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 is likely "at the bottom of the sea," according to Indonesian officials.  According to NBC News, officials have yet to find any trace of the flight, even after searching for two days.

The jet was said to have vanished this past Sunday morning with 162 people on board. It was following what would normally be a two-hour long flight path, but encountered violent weather after about 40 minutes. At the time, it was located between the Indonesian city of Surabaya and Singapore.

On Monday, Bambang Soelistyo, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief, stated, "Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea... That's the preliminary suspicion and it can develop based on the evaluation of the result of our search."

According to The Guardian, Soelistyo added that "the capability of our equipment is not optimum, "conveying that Indonesia may turn to the help of other countries to find the missing plane.

NBC News reports that Indonesia has been assisted by Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, and Singapore has donated two sets of underwater locator beacon detectors - which can help find an aircraft's black boxes - as well as two teams of specialists. More recently, this Monday Singapore also offered a sonar system and a robotic remotely-operated vehicle.

So far, officials have been quick to quiet any similarities between the missing AirAsia Flight and Malaysia Airlines MH370, which disappeared on March 8. Oceanographer Simon Boxall has weighed in, stating that the prospect of finding wreckage of the AirAsia flight is more likely given its geographical location during the time it went missing.

  He commented, "It's relatively shallow water and it's close to land so they can use helicopters, rather than spending hours just getting to the search area... It's not going to be easy, but it is feasible within a relatively short amount of time."

Tags
airasia
AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Indonesia
Singapore
Java Sea
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