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Regd No:35356/1999 Under Act XXI of 1680 The Society for unity of people.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AIRASIA INDONESIA FLIGHT QZ8501
AS OF 30 DECEMBER 2014 18:00 HRS LT (GMT+7)
SURABAYA, 30 DECEMBER 2014 – AirAsia Indonesia regrets to inform that The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, the flight that had lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28th December 2014.
The debris of the aircraft was found in the Karimata Strait around 110 nautical miles south west from Pangkalan Bun.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were 155 passengers on board, with 137 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots, 4 cabin crews and one engineer.
At the present time, search and rescue operations are still in progress and further investigation of the debris found at the location is still underway. AirAsia Indonesia employees have been sent to the site and will be fully cooperating with BASARNAS, National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), and relevant authorities on the investigation.
Sunu Widyatmoko, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Indonesia said: “We are sorry to be here today under these tragic circumstances. We would like to extend our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of those on board QZ8501. Our sympathies also go out to the families of our dear colleagues.”
Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia added: “I am absolutely devastated. This is a very difficult moment for all of us at AirAsia as we await further developments of the search and rescue operations but our first priority now is the wellbeing of the family members of those onboard QZ8501.”
AirAsia Indonesia will be inviting family members to Surabaya, where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met. Counsellors, religious and spiritual personnel have also been invited to the family center to provide any necessary services.
Further information will be released as soon as it becomes available. An emergency call centre has been established and available for families seeking information. Family members of QZ8501, please contact:
Malaysia: +60 3 21795959 Indonesia: +62 2129270811 Singapore: +65 63077688 Korea: 007 98142069940
Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends of our passengers and colleagues on board QZ8501.
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Indonesian civil aviation chief
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Debris spotted on Tuesday during an aerial search for AirAsia flight QZ8501 is from the missing plane, Indonesia's director general of civil aviation said.
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"For the time being it can be confirmed that it's the AirAsia plane and the transport minister will depart soon to Pangkalan Bun," Djoko Murjatmodjo said. Indonesian air force official Agus Dwi Putranto told reporters that about 10 big objects and many more small white-coloured objects which could not be photographed have been spotted in the Java Sea off the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. "The position is 10 kilometres (six miles) from the location the plane was last captured by radar," he said. Ten photos of objects resembling a plane door, emergency slide, and a square box-like object were displayed by Putranto. At least 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters joined the search for the AirAsia flight QZ8501 that went missing on Sunday morning after taking off from Surabaya in eastern Java on its way to Singapore, said Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo. The multinational operation, led by Indonesia, has been joined by Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, with other offers for help from countries like India, South Korea, China and France. The US destroyer USS Sampson is on its way to the zone. The United States was formally asked to assist in the operation, even though none of the passengers are American. Several sightings, including something that resembled oil spill east of Belitung island, turned out to be false alarms. The search by Indonesian Air Force planes spotted two pools of possible oil slick on Monday but these were later determined to be shadows from underwater coral. Two fishermen who reported hearing or seeing the plane are being taken out today by search and rescue teams to that area. The search teams are also checking the area where Indonesian navy helicopter crews saw smoke, but authorities do not know whether there is any connection to the missing jet. The search area, originally divided into seven sectors, is now being expanded to 13, covering air, sea and land. The search area between the islands of Sumatra and Borneo would be expanded, Soelistyo said. Authorities would begin scouring islands in the area as well as land on Indonesia's side of Borneo. So far the focus of the search has been the Java Sea. On Monday, Soelistyo had said that the "preliminary suspicion" may be that the plane is at the bottom of the sea. The Airbus A320-200 was flying over the Java Sea in Indonesian airspace when communication with air traffic control ceased about 42 minutes after take-off. The aircraft was to land at Singapore's Changi Airport at 8:30 am. The pilot had asked for a new route minutes before he went off the radio, air traffic control has said. The plane's last detected position was 100 nautical miles south-east of Tanjung Pandan on Belitung Island. The flight was carrying 155 passengers -- one British, one Malaysian, one Singaporean, three South Koreans, 149 Indonesians -- and seven crew members -- six Indonesians and a French co-pilot. Seventeen of the passengers were children. There were no Indian nationals on board. |
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Posted: 29 Dec 2014
A study by IHS Energy shows
that India was the fourth largest importer of liquefied natural gas
(LNG) in 2013. (Japan, South Korea and China – in that order – were the
largest.)
India’s infrastructure for transport of natural gas to meet the
domestic demand has never been adequate. The present pipeline is not
enough to keep pace with the supply surge through increased domestic
production, LNG imports and gas imports.
LNG imports are expected to
account for much of the gas supply; its increase will depend on the pace
of expansion in regasification terminal capacities and pipeline
infrastructure connecting gas to markets.
The geographical distribution of existing pipelines continues to
remain uneven as states closer to gas sources devour the benefits of
higher utilisation and local development of the market. Of the 12,144 km
of gas pipelines in India, around 60% is concentrated in Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Though the government has
promised to expand the pipeline network by 15,000 km to complete the
grid, the situation is not encouraging. Only 17% of the targeted 15,918
km in the 12th Five Year plan (2012-17) is complete; another 4,000 km is
a work in progress. Projects related to 6,200 km of pipelines are in
various stages of bidding, while the fate of the final 3,700 km is
unclear.
It’s likely, then, that
supplies will improve by 2017 via LNG terminals and domestic sources but
India won’t have the infrastructure to transport gas to its eastern and
central regions.
A major hurdle is the tariff
structure. The uneven development of pipeline infrastructure is the
result of different tariffs to transport the same amount of gas across
the same distance in different parts of the country. Manish Aggarwal,
partner and head of energy and natural resources at KPMG India, told
Livemint.com: “Many delays are due to issues with local clearances,
project coordination and centre-state conflicts because of the project’s
impact on farmers.”
Ideally, for a slowly evolving
market like India, a uniform pipeline tariff – also known as ‘postalised
tariff’ – for all customers, irrespective of their distance from the
gas field, is prudent. This may have a further positive impact through
greater investment in deep-water projects for domestic gas exploration
and increased competition for LNG imports.
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Earlier in Surabaya, the management
of AirAsia along with the Governor of East Java, National Search and
Rescue Agency of Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS), Airport Authority of
Indonesia, Airport Operator (Angkasa Pura I) met with the members of the
families to update them on the latest developments and reconfirmed
their commitment to providing assistance in every possible way.
Sunu Widyatmoko, CEO of AirAsia
Indonesia said, “We are deeply shocked and saddened by this incident. We
are cooperating with the relevant authorities to the fullest extent to
determine the cause of this incident. In the meantime, our main priority
is keeping the families of our passengers and colleagues informed on
the latest developments.”
“We will do everything possible to
support them as the investigation continues and have already mobilized a
support team to help take care of their immediate needs, including
accommodation and travel arrangements. A briefing center has also been
set up in Surabaya for the families.”
For
the families in Singapore, there is also an emergency briefing room at
Changi International Airport Terminal Two, where AirAsia Indonesia will
be providing regular updates.
We
have also established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for
those seeking information about relatives or friends who may have been
on board the flight. The number is +622129270811.
At this time, search and rescue operations are
being conducted, under the guidance of National Search and Rescue
Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS). AirAsia Indonesia is
cooperating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were 155 passengers on board, with 137 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots and 4 cabin crewand one engineer on board.
The
captain in command had a total of 20,537 flying hours of which, 6,100
flying hours were with AirAsia Indonesia on the Airbus A320. The first
office officer had a total of 2,275 flying hours with AirAsia Indonesia.
We will release further information as soon as it becomes available and our thoughts and prayers are with those on board QZ8501.
Note to Editors: We
ask that members of the news media do not call the AirAsia Emergency
Call Centre, as this line is reserved for family members seeking
information about those who may have been on board. For media enquiries
please call +622129270831.
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