As AirAsia search ends second day, families can only wait

As AirAsia search ends second day, families can only wait

Family members wait anxiously at the international airport in Surabaya as the search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501 heads into dusk on the second day after the airplane went missing.

SURABAYA, Indonesia: Family members gathered and hugged and cried at the international airport here as they anxiously awaited news on the fate of passengers aboard AirAsia Flight QZ8501 as a second day of an intense multi-nation search for the plane headed into dusk.

Authorities had little new to report and little evidence on why the jet lost contact en route from Surabaya to Singapore shortly after the pilot requested permission to head to a higher altitude in the face of a storm, Channel NewsAsia reports.

The inability to immediately find the plane has brought back echoes of the ordeal of
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 and questions of how what appeared to be a routine flight could go so wrong.

"I found out from television yesterday morning, and I found the names there in the list and so I was shocked and was not sure the first time," said one anxious family member waiting for any information.

Another family member said that more detail was needed. "Regardless of the fact that this is a tragedy, questions emerge on why the flight was moved up from 7.30am to 5.20am that day,” the second person said. “I believe many families would like to know the reason. If they hadn't left earlier, this may not have happened."

The head of the aviation authority at Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport, Pramintohadi Sukarno, said that the investigation would be thorough from his end.

"We follow the regulations starting from the investigation on the possibility of the performance of the aircraft. On the other hand, we have to check all the procedures whether they comply or not with the civil aviation security part of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) regulations."

But until authorities find evidence of the whereabouts of the missing plane, distraught families and friends of those on board have little choice but to wait for the next briefing and hope their loved ones will be found.

AirAsia has provided free accommodation and transport to and from the airport for family members and Surabaya City officials have set up a call centre and offered assistance to locate next-of-kin and to provide counselling.

"We have begun safeguarding some houses in which entire families had left empty to go on a vacation,” said Tri Rismaharini, the mayor of Surabaya. “I'm working with local police and neighbourhood officials to help keep an eye on the houses."

- CNA/el

- wong chee tat :)