Divers battle weather to reach AirAsia wreckage
Katharine Lackey, USA 23 a .m. EST
January 4, 2015
Search teams hunting for AirAsia Flight
8501, which had been carrying 162 people, find four large plane parts on the
seabed but haven't been able to take images of the suspected wreck yet. Mana
Rabiee reports.
Rain and rolling waves delayed divers from
reaching the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 after four large objects were
detected on the ocean floor Saturday, which Indonesian officials appeared
confident were from the jet that crashed with 162 people aboard.
"We've found four big parts from the
plane we're looking for," search-and-rescue agency chief Henry Bambang
Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta
The largest piece — measuring 59 feet long
and 18 feet wide — is believed to be part of the jet's body, Soelistyo said. Other
debris in the area
measured up to 39 feet long. The objects were found Friday and Saturday using sonar equipment.
Divers were unable to enter the water to
get a visual due to strong currents and high surf. Poor visibility hampered efforts to take
photos of the objects with underwater remote operating vehicles, Reuters
reported.
After a nearly week-long search, just 31
bodies have been pulled from the water. Officials said they expect to find many
of the 162 passengers and crew still strapped to their seats inside the plane.
"Many of the passengers are believed
to be still trapped inside the plane's fuselage and could be discovered soon," said
rescue official Supriyadi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
"God willing, we will complete this operation next week."
The Airbus A320-200 crashed Sunday on a
two-hour flight from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore
The discovery of the massive objects came
as Indonesian authorities grounded AirAsia flights from Surabaya
to Singapore Singapore
No definitive cause for the crash had been
determined, but weather could have played a role. The jet's last communication
indicated pilots were worried about bad weather. They sought permission to climb above
threatening clouds but were denied because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes
later, the airliner disappeared from radar without issuing a distress signal.
"Flight 8501 appears to have been
trapped in bad weather that would have been difficult to avoid," according
to a 14-page report released by Indonesia
The jet's all-important black boxes — which
have yet to be located — will likely shed light on the plane's final moments
and should contain the pilots' dialogue, along with hundreds of streams of
information about how the plane was behaving.
At least eight navy ships from Singapore , Russia ,
Malaysia and the U.S.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/03 /air-asia-flight-8501-crash/21224643/
Structure
of the Lead：
WHO- Search teams
WHEN- not given
WHAT- find four large plane parts on the seabed
WHY- not given
WHERE- not given
HOW- hunting for AirAsia Flight 8501
WHEN- not given
WHAT- find four large plane parts on the seabed
WHY- not given
WHERE- not given
HOW- hunting for AirAsia Flight 8501
Keywords：
1.
debris : 殘骸
2.
sonar : 聲納
3.
hamper : 妨礙
4.
strap : 用皮帶捆住
5.
fuselage : 機身
6.
definitive : 決定性的.最後的
7.
sought : (seek的過去式)尋找
