Despite unforgiving weather conditions, the search and retrieval operations for the remaining victims of the crashed AirAsia plane is still ongoing. A team of different international volunteers coming from United States, Malaysia, France, Japan and Singapore have all teamed up to in hopes of recovering the remains on the crash site. Acoustic equipment was also employed in order to help locate the planes black box.
162 people on board when the Airbus A32-220 crashed in the Java Sea. So far the retrieval team only managed to recover 10 bodies. The plane crashed while on its way to Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya. Rear Marshal Henry Bambang Soelistyo said in an official interview that the bad weather condition within the crash site has brought innumerable problems for retrieval team; he also added that the search will be intensified once the bad weather clears up. Rear Marshal Soelistyo highlighted that the search team will focus all their effort into underwater detection. Teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States have already been mobilized in order to recover the most important part of the plane, the black box. The black box contained various flight data and cockpit voice recorders, all important information in determining what caused the plane to crash.
A 13, 500 square kilometer area just off of Pankalan Bun is being searched for signs of the wreckage. A total of nine planes mostly equipped with metal detector are patrolling the area in hopes of finally finding the crash site. Three helicopter and Two Japanese vessels are also en route to the area to help with the search operations.
France has also sent its BEA crash investigation agency. This agency is responsible for the investigation of all Airbus plane crash. With the use of high tech hydrophone and underwater detection devices, the agency hopes of pinpointing the crash site as soon as possible
