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AirAsia QZ 8501: Search area narrowed

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Indonesian recovery teams narrowed the search area for AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on Friday (Jan 2), hopeful they were closing in on the plane’s crash site.

French and Singaporean investigators with equipment for detecting the signal from the plane’s black boxes were set to join the hunt for the Airbus A320-200, which disappeared from radar during a storm Sunday en route from Surabaya to Singapore. 

Search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said Friday’s search was focused on an area of 1,575 sq nautical miles, with 29 ships and 17 aircraft engaged in the operation. 

It is a 10th of the size of Thursday’s search, which covered an area of 13,500 nautical square miles. 

"There are two main tasks in this priority sector: First, to locate the biggest part of the plane’s body. 

"The second task is to find the position of the black boxes, or flight recorders, which will be carried out by the KNKT (National Transport Safety committee) which start working today," he told a press conference. 

So far 16 bodies have been recovered. The search continues.

Source: AFP

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