BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Rescue and search teams resumed their work in Indonesian waters at 6a.m. in the morning, local time on Monday, after a suspension overnight. Indonesia is leading the search, with assistance from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. The UK, China and South Korea have all offered their help.
An international joint search effort, launched hours after the AirAsia flight went missing on its way to Singapore from Indonesia.
"Our primary task is to find the plane," said Tatang Kurniadi, the head of Indonesian Transport Ministry's Search & Rescue Dept. "We are cooperating with every possible department, and relevant countries."
A Press Conference was held at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in West Jakarta, where Indonesian officials mapped out their search plan.
"This includes the department responsible for aircraft design, the aircraft manufacturer from France, and relevant operational teams from AirAsia and Malaysia," Kurniadi said.
And the country's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla expressed deep concern. He said the government will do its utmost to find the plane.
"The government has instructed the National Search and Rescue Agency, the military, the provincial government, the local military to deploy all capacity and equipment to find this aircraft," Kalla said.
Singapore deployed on Monday another Air Force C-130 aircraft, the Formidable-class frigate and missile corvette.
Second Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing said he believed Singapore's strong relationship with Indonesia will enable them to work closely and execute the search operation effectively.
Malaysia has also sent vessels and aircraft.
"I keep in touch with my counterpart from Indonesia, His Excellency Ignasius Jonan, he has requested our help and we are keeping in touch and we are deploying three vessels now," Malaysian Transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said. "The vessels are on the way now to Belitung areas. We also deployed C130 (Hercules aircraft) and navy vessels to assist in this rescue."
Australia has also deployed a P3 Orion aircraft. On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and said his country would do whatever it humanly could to help trackdown the plane.
(Source: english.CNTV.cn)
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