Banjarmasin, (AntaranewsKalsel) - KRI Pulau Rengat began combing the waters of Kalimantan to help search for the missing plane QZ8501 AirAsia, which lost contact shortly after flying from Juanda Airport in Surabaya to Singapore.
Captain KRI Pulau Rengat Mayor Sailors Cecep Hidayat in Banjarmasin on Monday revealed that the vessel he skippered is going to scour the waters around the west and south coast of Kalimantan to detect the possible presence of AirAsia plane at the bottom of the sea.
The Navy KRI 711 Pulau Rengat has the ability to detect metal on the seabed at a depth of 50 meters. It carried 40 crew.
The ship's departure released by Commander Banjarmasin Naval Base, Marine Col. Haris Bima Bayuseto, from the Port of Trisakti Banjarmasin.
Previously, the ships patrolling the waters of the Strait of Malacca, then stopped to Banjarmasin to fill fuel. Upon arrival in Banjarmasin, there was news about the loss of AirAsia plane, which did not rule out in the waters of Kalimantan.
"After that, we get orders to help search for the missing plane by scouring the waters of Kalimantan," he said.
According to Cecep, a trip to the location of the crash will take approximately 16 to 20 hours, and the plan is the vessel will conduct a search for seven days. When not found it will be extended, according to the Basarnas command.
Besides KRI Pulau Rengat, the Navy also deployed nine other KRI vesseland seven maritime patrol aircraft to perform a search.
Previously, Aircraft Search Team AirAsia QZ 8501 find yellow objects in Nasik Island, Bangka Strait, which allegedly wreckage of the plane declared missing at 7:55 am Sunday morning.
