JOINING THE SEARCH
PHOTO // PIONEER Photographers & Courtesy of the RSN
On 28 Dec last year, AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared en route to Singapore. The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responded swiftly, deploying ships and aircraft to assist in the multinational search operations.
Family and loved ones of the 162 people on board Indonesia AirAsia plane QZ8501 will forever remember 28 Dec 2014. The flight had taken off from Surabaya, Indonesia, at 5:35am (Indonesia time) and lost contact with ground control about an hour later. Indonesia is one hour behind Singapore.
Aid outpour
Within hours, Singapore offered to help and prepared its ships and aircraft for deployment. When the Indonesian authorities accepted the offer of assistance later that day, the Republic of Singapore Air Force's (RSAF's) C-130 Transport Aircraft was deployed right away.
Later that night, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) sent frigate RSS Supreme and Missile Corvette (MCV) RSS Valour. The MCV - being the faster ship - was the first international vessel to reach the search area in the Java Sea. The Landing Ship Tank RSS Persistence with two Super Puma helicopters, rescue vessel MV Swift Rescue, Mine Countermeasure Vessel RSS Kallang and a 6-man Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) team were deployed subsequently.
Although the first signs of the missing AirAsia flight were found by Day 3 of the search, the passenger plane's main body continued to elude the searchers. By Day 7, about 60 ships and 20 aircraft from countries in the region and beyond were involved in the search.
Finding closure
On 14 Jan, MV Swift Rescue located the fuselage of the AirAsia plane in the Java Sea and informed BASARNAS, the Indonesian search and rescue authority.
That same day, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen telephoned Senior Lieutenant Colonel Chow Khim Chong, the Commander Task Group for underwater search operations on board MV Swift Rescue. The Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) had "seen" the body of the aircraft lying on the seabed. The wreckage was about 2km from the tail section of the plane, which was located on 11 Jan.
During the phone conversation, the two men spoke about helping victims' families find closure through their search. "This is a very tragic incident. We hope that by finding the fuselage, we can help some of the families of the victims find closure and ease their pain," said Dr Ng.
Speaking of the SAF effort, he added: "I'm very proud of all of you who have not given up and continued the search."
MV Swift Rescue returned to Changi Naval Base on 18 Jan, marking the end of the SAF's 22-day deployment in the multinational search operations. Our thoughts are with the friends and families of those who were on board AirAsia flight QZ8501.
