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Indonesia lacks underwater equipment to search for jet

According to the chief of Indonesian search-and-rescue agency, Britain, the United States and France may help with the necessary equipment

SINGAPORE, December 29. /TASS/. Indonesia lacks required rescue equipment, including underwater vehicles to lift an AirAsia jet, chief of Indonesian search-and-rescue agency Bambang Soelistyo said on Monday.

“In this regard, I asked the Foreign Ministry so that other countries would give this equipment,” the agency’s chief said, adding that “these countries may be Britain, the United States and France.”

Meanwhile, the search area from Belitung, an island off the eastern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, in the Java Sea, to western part of Kalimantan, third largest island in the world, is divided into seven sectors, he said. “On the basis of coordinates, forecasts of a possible wreckage site in the sea, this can be assumed that the jet is lying on the seabed,” Soelistyo said. However, he noted that “this is just a preliminary conclusion.”

The AirAsia jet was en route from Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, to Singapore. About 40 minutes after the take-off the plane disappeared from the radar screens, presumably staying in the area of Kalimantan Island (Borneo). The Airbus A320-200 was carrying 155 passengers, including seven crewmembers.