According to Bambang, Basarnas spent Rp570 million on QZ8501s evacuation process. The amount is quite minimal as Indonesia received ample assistance with the evacuation process from many countries; so, Basarnas did not require any major financial aid from the Indonesian government.
"We are thankful for the foreign ships that helped us in the search and evacuation process," he said.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared on December 28 en route from Surabaya in East Java to Singapore with 162 people on board. They comprised 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, a Briton, a Singaporean, a French, and a Malaysian.
The plane crashed in the Java Sea near the Karimata Strait, some 95 nautical miles from Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.
Basarnas had coordinated all the search operations, which involved the military, police, and Transportation Ministry, besides several teams from foreign countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, India, and Russia.
Reporting by Juwita Trisna Rahayu
Translating and editing by Amie Fenia Arimbi/f001
EDITED BY INE
(T.A051/B/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
