Japanese Ships To Withdraw From AirAsia Search Area

Jakarta, Jan 8 (Antara) - Two ships from Japan, sent by the country's Self-Defense Forces to join the Indonesia-led search mission for the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501, will leave the search area on Friday, an official noted. National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Chief Rear Marshal F. Henry Bambang Soelistyo stated here on Thursday that JS Ohnami and JS Takanami, the two ships from Japan that have been in the waters of Karimata Strait since January 3, 2015 to help search for the victims, black box, and fuselage of the AirAsia jet, will leave the search area on Friday. Soelistyo noted that the decision to withdraw the two Japanese vessels was taken after comprehensive analysis and evaluation to reduce the deployment of excessive force. "For the sake of effectiveness and on-field conditions, the two ships had to abandon the search location," he said, adding that the Japanese ships had conducted coordinated patrols to combat piracy in the African waters. Since their presence in the priority search area, the two Japanese navy ships have so far recovered some debris, a body, and a life jacket of a plane crash victim, he remarked. As of Wednesday afternoon or the 11th day, the search workers have so far recovered 40 bodies, of which 39 have been transported to the East Java city of Surabaya to be identified by the police's Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team. In another development, the rescue workers have discovered parts of AirAsia Flight QZ8501's tail in the additional priority area, Soelistyo stated. "This discovery has been confirmed," he informed during a press briefing on the latest development of the Basarnas-led search mission to find the victims and fuselage of the ill-fated jet. Soelistyo noted that the aircraft was carrying 162 people when it crashed in the waters of Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province, on December 28, 2014, however, its tail was not found in the first priority area. "Instead, parts of the aircraft's tail were recovered in the second additional priority sector", he affirmed.