Channel NewsAsia spoke to two members of Indonesia's national search and recovery agency, BASARNAS, who have been rappelling from helicopters amid high winds and choppy seas to retrieve bodies from the doomed AirAsia jet QZ5801.
PANGKALAN BUN: After facing week-long driving rain and high winds at sea, men on the frontline of the search and recovery operation for AirAsia QZ8501 were finally greeted by clear skies on Saturday (Jan 3).
They made the most of it, expediting the retrieval process and sending 12 bodies home to Surabaya - the biggest batch so far. Thirty bodies have been retrieved over a week, meaning nearly a fifth of the 162 people on board have been accounted for.Two men from BASARNAS, Indonesia's national search and recovery agency, told Channel NewsAsia the weather plays a major factor in the success of their mission.
Second Sergeant (2SG) Mahmud Junianto was first from his organisation to attempt to retrieve an AirAsia casualty from the Java Sea off Kalimantan coast. On Tuesday at around 1pm, 2SG Mahmud said he was instructed by a pilot to retrieve what appeared to be debris from the sea.
He rappelled 25 metres down from a helicopter and caught sight of what looked like an exit door of the plane. Upon closer inspection, he realised it was woman's floating body.
2SG Mahmud tried to swim to it, but extreme weather conditions, and waves of up to 2 to 3m foiled his attempts.
“My first reaction was to quickly evacuate the body,” said 2SG Mahmud. “I am sorry that I failed to bring her back to the shore, but I have tried my best.” He said that in BASARNAS, they always strive for efficiency, accuracy and safety, and in that situation, his own safety would have been compromised.
An Indonesian warship retrieved the body shortly after, he said.
2SG Mahmud said he had been through similar drills before in his four years with BASARNAS, but nothing comes close to this. Still, he promised the search for more casualties would go on in rough weather.
A total of five BARSARNAS personnel – a pilot, co-pilot, and three divers – are on board each helicopter sent out, said another diver, Second Sergeant Akhyar. For each run they make, it takes about an hour for them to travel from Iskandar airport to the search location. The grim task of retrieving a body from the sea takes approximately half an hour.
2SG Akhyar said he hopes relatives of the people on QZ8501 will remain strong during this trying period. “Sorry for this incident,” he said. “We do not know what will happen next, but please be patient."
BARSARNAS has been working with personnel from seven countries since the AirAsia crash last Sunday, including Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the US. A total of 60 ships, 11 helicopters and eight aircraft were involved in the search and recovery operations on Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment