Workers assemble a beacon buoy that will be placed on the site where, according to officials, the tail of crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 has been located, near Kumai port in Pangkalan Bun. An Indonesian naval patrol vessel has found what could be the tail of the crashed passenger jet, the section where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located, officials said. — Reuters photo
Relatives of a QZ8501 passenger, whose body was recovered, leave following a handover ceremony in Surabaya, East Java. — Reuters photo
Indonesian officers carry three coffins with the remains of three passengers of the AirAsia flight 8501 in Pangkalan Bun. — AFP photo
Crew members of the Indonesian Navy ship KRI Bung Tomo display parts of AirAsia QZ8501 and passenger belongings they recovered from the Java Sea at the Naval Base in Surabaya. — Reuters photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai yesterday advised the public against speculating on the route taken by the crashed AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501.
He said they should wait for the Indonesian government to complete its investigation into the allegation that the flight took off on an unauthorised route on the day it went missing and crashed.
“This is because the Indonesian government has alleged that the route was not approved, but the Singapore government said the route was approved,” he told reporters after receiving donations for flood victims, at Wisma MCA here.
Also present were MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun.
Asked if the Indonesian authorities had requested additional assistance for search and rescue, Liow said the Malaysian government had fulfilled a request for divers and had so far sent 100 divers.
Liow said that as of Sunday, Malaysia had been asked to help search a total of 14,985 nautical miles and the country still had three vessels in the designated waters of the Java Sea.
The AirAsia Indonesia flight crashed in the Java Sea near Pangkalan Bun in central Kalimantan while flying 155 passengers and seven crew from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore on Dec 28.
Earlier, on flood assistance, the MCA president said the party had received cash donations amounting to RM365,000 and goods totalling RM392,735 from the corporate sector and NGOs. — Bernama