An object spotted during the sea search for the missing AirAsia plane was not from the aircraft, Indonesia’s vice president said, after reports that an Australian surveillance aircraft had found something.
“It has been checked and no sufficient evidence was found to confirm what was reported,” Jusuf Kalla told a press conference at Surabaya airport from where the ill-fated plane departed.
Kalla said 15 ships and 30 aircraft have been searching the area.
“It is not an easy operation in the sea, especially in bad weather like this,” he added.
Indonesian Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto said the search was now focused on a patch of oil spotted off Belitung island in the Java Sea.
“We are making sure whether it was avtur [aviation fuel] from the AirAsia plane or from a vessel, because that location is on a shipping lane,” he said.
Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have deployed planes and ships to assist in the Indonesian search for the aircraft, which disappeared over the Java Sea yesterday en route to Singapore.