BBC Online :
The Indonesian admiral in charge of operations to recover AirAsia flight QZ8501 has told the BBC the fuselage may be too fragile to be lifted.
Rear Admiral Widodo’s comments came after a renewed attempt to raise the wreckage from seabed failed when it kept breaking into pieces. Ropes around the fuselage snapped during an initial failed effort to raise it on Saturday.
The plane crashed into the Java Sea last month killing all 162 on board.
It was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.
Four bodies were recovered on Saturday, taking the total recovered to 69, with more thought to be inside.
A preliminary report on the crash is expected to be filed next week , although the full investigation will take months.
Rescuers have been using inflatable balloon bags capable of lifting up to 10 tonnes to raise the 13-metre long section of wreckage from the sea bed and onto a flat boat.
But on Saturday, with the wreckage seven metres (22ft) from the surface, strong currents and the sharp edges of the aircraft’s emergency door cut the rope connecting a bag to the fuselage.
The Indonesian admiral in charge of operations to recover AirAsia flight QZ8501 has told the BBC the fuselage may be too fragile to be lifted.
Rear Admiral Widodo’s comments came after a renewed attempt to raise the wreckage from seabed failed when it kept breaking into pieces. Ropes around the fuselage snapped during an initial failed effort to raise it on Saturday.
The plane crashed into the Java Sea last month killing all 162 on board.
It was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.
Four bodies were recovered on Saturday, taking the total recovered to 69, with more thought to be inside.
A preliminary report on the crash is expected to be filed next week , although the full investigation will take months.
Rescuers have been using inflatable balloon bags capable of lifting up to 10 tonnes to raise the 13-metre long section of wreckage from the sea bed and onto a flat boat.
But on Saturday, with the wreckage seven metres (22ft) from the surface, strong currents and the sharp edges of the aircraft’s emergency door cut the rope connecting a bag to the fuselage.
