Finger Locators Not Yet Operated: Indonesian Search Authority

Jakarta, (Antara Bali) - Finger locators that can help detect the black box of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 have yet to be operated in the search area where the jet's tail was found, the Indonesian search agency authority said here Thursday.

         "We have yet to use the finger locators because we firstly want to make sure whether the black box remains in the tail compartment," Chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) FH Bambang Soelistyo said.

         In operating the finger locators, the search area should also be freed from vessels, he said adding that Basarnas-led search mission on Day 12 was focused on finding the ill-fated aircraft's black box.

         Soelistyo said if the black box remained in the compartment of the aircraft's tail, Basarnas should coordinate with the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) for talks about the best way of lifting the recovered the debris.

         "So the decision is the KNKT's authority. We just help and we have provided Crest Onyx vessel equipped with a crane," he said.

         The tail of the AirAsia plane, which crashed with 162 people on board in the waters of Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province, in its flight from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore on December 28, 2014, was found on Wednesday.

         The tail was recovered by a number of Indonesian navy divers from the button of the Java Sea. (WDY)