For a little while, it seemed like debris from AirAsia's Flight 8501 might have been spotted floating in the Java Sea, but that possibility has now been dismissed. The work horse flight disappeared from radar more than 36 hours ago after asking to alter its course due to bad weather. A few minutes later the Airbus 320-200 disappeared from radar and has not been seen or heard from since.
Unfortunately, as time goes on, officials have seen less reason to believe that the outcome of this situation will be anything less than grim. Indonesia's search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo has admitted that, "Based on the coordinates that we know, the evaluation would be that any estimated crash position is in the sea, and that the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea."
That is obviously not the reality the families of the 162 people on board Flight 8501 want to believe. Their loved ones departed Surabaya, Indonesia, Sunday morning, Dec. 28, headed for Singapore, a trip that usually takes about two hours. The plane instead vanished amid thick storm clouds and thunderstorms that made travel conditions difficult.
AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia, which makes this the third ill-fated trip in the last 10 months connected with that country. MH Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine in the summer and MH 370 mysteriously vanished without a trace in February. Sources seem to believe Flight 8501 will be located in a short period of time because, if it is at the bottom of the Java Sea, as investigators seem to believe, at least the waters are not deep.
Air travel originating from Southeast Asia has been especially worrisome in the last several months. Do you think it is a coincidence or simply a run of bad luck? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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