Η κυβέρνηση θεωρεί πως αν δεν ληφθούν τα κατάλληλα μέτρα τώρα, το πρόβλημα ενδέχεται να λάβει τεράστιες διαστάσεις.
Οι περισσότεροι τουρίστες και σπουδαστές από Ασία και Η.Π.Α. με ληγμένη βίζα.
Μετανάστες από την Κίνα, τη Μαλαισία και τις Η.Π.Α. είναι οι περισσότεροι παράνομοι μετανάστες στην Αυστραλία. Η πλειοψηφία έχει καταφέρει να μείνει στη χώρα με ληγμένη βίζα από το 2013, με τους Κινέζους να παίρνουν την πρωτιά, αριθμώντας 7.690 παραβάτες.
Σύμφωνα με την έρευνα που δημοσίευσε το Υπουργείο Μετανάστευσης, με τίτλο «Migration Trends 2012-2013», 44.800 επισκέπτες έμειναν στη χώρα καθώς και 10.720 φοιτητές παρά τη λήξη της βίζας τους.
Το πιο υψηλό ποσοστό παράνομων ανήκει στην Κίνα, όπως προαναφέραμε, ενώ η Μαλαισία με 6.420 παράνομους και οι Η.Π.Α. με 5.220 αντίστοιχα, ακολουθούν. Υψηλό αριθμό παράνομων μεταναστών (3.780 άτομα), εντόπισε η Υπηρεσία και από το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο. Αξίζει να σημειωθεί πως οι περίπου 62.100 άνθρωποι που ζουν και εργάζονται παράνομα στην Αυστραλία αποτελούν μόνο το 1,2 % των ατόμων που εισέρχονται στη χώρα ετησίως με προσωρινές άδειες. Ο αριθμός τους ξεπερνά τα 5,5 εκατομμύρια.
Η Άντζελα Τσαν, πρόεδρος του Ινστιτούτου Μεταναστών Αυστραλίας, τόνισε ότι εκτός από τις δυσκολίες εντοπισμού των παράνομων στη χώρα, η κυβέρνηση πρέπει να πάρει μια ρεαλιστική απόφαση για το μέλλον τους στην Αυστραλία.
«Κάποιοι από τους παραβάτες μπορεί να βρίσκονται στη χώρα εδώ και πάρα πολύ καιρό» σημείωσε.
«Μερικοί ενδέχεται να ζουν στην Αυστραλία πάνω από 20 χρόνια, έχοντας ξεχάσει να κάνουν κάτι για τη βίζα τους. Εργάζονται, έχουν οικογένεια και αποτελούν σημαντικό κομμάτι της κοινωνίας μας».
Αμέσως μόλις ο Πήτερ Ντάτον ανέλαβε υπουργός Μετανάστευσης, «ορκίστηκε» να εξαλείψει το κύμα παράνομης μετανάστευσης και παραμονής στη χώρα.
«Όταν είσαι παράνομος εδώ, για μένα αποτελείς κομμάτι οργανωμένης συμμορίας και θεωρώ πρωταρχικό μου καθήκον να σε αντιμετωπίσω όπως έναν εγκληματία» έγραψε ο υπουργός στη σελίδα του στο Facebook.
«Το να γίνει κανείς δεκτός στην Αυστραλία αποτελεί προνόμιο. Όταν όμως έρχεται κάποιος να βλάψει τους Αυστραλούς πολίτες, να διαπράξει εγκλήματα και να κλέψει την Πρόνοια, η απέλασή του είναι προτεραιότητα».
Εκπρόσωπος του Υπουργείου ξεκαθάρισε πως άτομα με ληγμένη βίζα στην Αυστραλία, θεωρούνται παραβάτες, θα κρατούνται και θα απελαύνονται, ενώ η είσοδος στη χώρα θα τους απαγορεύεται για 3 χρόνια. Οι παραβάτες θα αποχωρούν από την Αυστραλία οικειοθελώς ή ακόμη και παρά τη θέλησή τους. Εάν πληρούν τις προϋποθέσεις, μπορεί να τους χορηγηθεί προσωρινή βίζα.
Η κυβέρνηση θεωρεί πως αν δεν ληφθούν τα κατάλληλα μέτρα τώρα για την πάταξη της εν λόγω παραβατικής συμπεριφοράς, δεδομένου του ότι χρόνο με το χρόνο ο αριθμός των ατόμων που έρχονται στη χώρα, αυξάνεται, το πρόβλημα ενδέχεται να λάβει τεράστιες διαστάσεις.
Great white shark were believed to responsible for an attack on Sean Pollard on 2 October, about 480km from where a man’s body was found at Cheynes beach. Photograph: Handout/Reuters
WA police released a statement saying the man’s body was found at Cheynes beach near Albany at 12.20pm on Monday.
“The man appears to have an injury to his body. Based on an initial assessment it appears the injury is consistent with a shark bite, however further assessment will need to be made to confirm this,” police said.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Fisheries said the man had been pulled from the water and had wounds consistent with bite marks, but said a shark attack had not been confirmed.
Fisheries staff are heading to the beach and will investigate the incident. Local police and St John Ambulance officers are attending the scene.
However the ABC reported that local surfers have talked about a shark swimming in the area in recent days.
An employee at Cheynes Beach Caravan Park told Guardian Australia the only shark sighting in the area had been of a bronze whaler in the week before Christmas.
The sighting was reported at the general store, which is operated at the caravan park.But the employee, who did not wish to be named, said Cheynes Beach was “not a great shark area.”
We have had two dead whales that washed up on the beach this year or last year and Fisheries were trying to use them to lure sharks to the area to tag them – they went away empty handed,” she said.
The park is full to capacity for the week leading up to New Years Eve, and the employee, who did not wish to be named, said most people would have been at the beach today.
Cheynes beach is a popular camping spot 65km east of Albany on West Australia’s south coast. It is about 480km from Esperance where 23-year-old Sean Pollard was attacked by what’s believed to be two great white sharks on October 2.
Pollard survived the attack but lost an arm and a hand.
Thanasi Kokkinakis lost to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open in 2014. Photo: Pat Scala
Australian teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis will kick off his 2015 tennis season at the Brisbane International.
The 18-year-old, who is considered one of the sport’s brightest local talents alongside good friend Nick Kyrgios, has scored a wildcard for the men’s competition.
He’ll line up against the likes of Swiss master Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic, as well as compatriots Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic at the tournament which starts on Sunday.
“Obviously it’s a very strong field but you get the draw you’re given and you’ve just got to give it a crack on the day,” Kokkinakis said.
“I think it’s probably the best ATP 250 event I’ve seen so far, so I’m really looking forward to it.”
Kokkinakis will be out to improve on his successful 2014 campaign, during which he edged up the rankings 420 spots to be the world No.150.
The towering teen also claimed his maiden grand slam singles win at the Australian Open, defeating Igor Sijsling in four sets before losing to Rafael Nadal in the second round.
Two men’s wildcards remain up for grabs, with the recipients to be announced in the coming days.
Big bangs: Mortars being prepared on barges at White Bay ahead of New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Smoking a rollie in the sun by Sydney Harbour is master pyrotechnician Fortunato Foti. Waiting on the water nearby are barges loaded with some seven tonnes of fireworks, with comets and shells to be shot into the sky in the shapes of smiley faces and hearts that fizzle then fade.
“I’ve got to give it up, it’s too expensive,” Mr Foti says, glancing at his cigarette. “I do make a point of not smoking while mixing gunpowder,” he assures.
Is there a more sombre sight than a firework waiting to explode? But even here, where Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are assembled by concrete docks and wire fences, are flashes of colour: of orange safety vests marked “Pyro Crew” and canary-yellow skip bins and bright aqua portaloos. “One year we had a portaloo blow off the barge into the water,” says Mr Foti, wearing dark sunglasses and a red bandanna. “It was empty, thankfully.”
This annual spectacle is conceived around the Foti family table over coffee. The challenge is to make each show different from the last. “Fireworks is not something that’s tangible, it’s not something you can pin up on the wall and say ‘Yeah, that looks pretty’,” he says. “We try to do half a dozen things that people haven’t seen before, because that’s what will stick in their mind”.
New this year, lighting up the sky above the harbour – where 1.6 million people are expected to gather – will be gold palm trees and crackling silver umbrellas. Scattered showers are forecast but not enough to stop the shows at 9pm and midnight, plus a 90-second flurry at 10.40pm – for all those who refuse to wait three hours for anything any more.
The $750,000 fireworks extravaganza boasts 11,000 shells and 25,000 shooting comets. The total toll of Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations will be $7.2 million, up from $6.8 million last year – go hang Treasurer Joe Hockey’s Age of Opportunity.
The media were invited to a preview of the fireworks program by the harbour on Monday morning. Once there, female TV reporters are made to swap heels for heavy black work boots. Mr Foti steps onto a barge under the glaring sun – the scourge of fireworks shows – where explosives are wrapped inside racks of mortar tubes. The tubes are topped with heavy-duty alfoil, like the most dangerous packed lunch you’ll never have. From them will shoot bursts of fiery colour – bright reds, greens and purples, lemon, magenta and sky blue.
Mr Foti recalls firecracker nights as a child, setting off catherine wheels in the backyard in Campbelltown. “It is one of those things that does bring a smile to people’s faces,” he says.
The theme of this year’s event is “Inspire” – but to do what? Actor turned “creative ambassador” Jack Thompson says it’s a celebration of this city and its people. He recalls a poem by his father, John, who saw Sydney-siders as an “unabashed people”: “yarning, gibing, protesting about what’s right or wrong with us”; hurrying or sauntering to work; “hemmed by irascible cars”.
We rebel against the “great city” but wouldn’t live elsewhere. “It is very important to recognise just what we do have and just where we do live and to celebrate that – its beauty, its friendship,” Jack Thompson says.
“If you’re not proud to be in Sydney, you probably haven’t opened your eyes.”
Italian and Greek helicopter crews worked into the night to airlift passengers off a burning ferry adrift in the Adriatic Sea, battling darkness and bad weather that hampered rescue efforts by other ships throughout Sunday.
Helicopters were plucking passengers off the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic and transferring them to a nearby vessel, after a dramatic day that began when a fire broke out on its lower deck in the early hours.
Authorities said one Greek man had died and there were reports of four injured among 478 passengers and crew and as night fell. The Italian navy said 190 people were clear of the danger zone, with 287 still on board.
The Italian coastguard said the fire on board had been “tamed” and the ship was being stabilised by cables attached to a tug in order to assist rescue operations which remained extremely difficult in rough seas and strong winds.
The ship will be towed to a nearby port after cables are securely attached but an official from the Italian navy said it had yet to be decided whether this would be in Italy or Albania, following conflicting statements from officials in Greece, Albania and Italy.
The ferry is just 13 miles (21 km) from the Albanian port of Vlore but an Italian navy spokesman said it may be towed to either Otranto or Brindisi in the south-eastern heel of Italy.
The airlifts would continue while the boat was being towed towards port, and rescue workers would try to get closer by boat to bring people off if conditions allowed, Greek Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told reporters.
“It will be a very difficult night and I hope that everything will go well and we will rescue all passengers and all crew members,” Varvitsiotis said.
The Italian navy said two Italian air force helicopters, one reek Superpuma helicopter and an Italian plane were taking part in the rescue, winching up passengers in small groups. Other aircraft and 10 ships were also taking part in the operation in support roles.
Earlier, Greek coastguard spokesman Nikos Lagkadianos said the heavy rain that was hampering the rescue had helped contain the fire although the ship was still burning.
Terrified passengers told how they had to move higher and higher in the ship to escape the flames.
“We went to the deck where there were life boats, but at some point we felt the floor burning and we went higher up tothe heliport,” Rania Fireou told Greek television by phone before the airlifts began.
“There are many children and elderly people aboard,” she said. “We have gathered all together and we are trying to warm ourselves.”
COMPLICATED RESCUE
Varvitsiotis said the bad weather, with winds of up to 55 mph (88 kph) earlier, made the operation one of the most complex Greek authorities had been involved in and vowed that no one would be left behind.
Coastguard officials said the Norman Atlantic, which was also carrying more than 200 vehicles, was 44 nautical miles northwest of the island of Corfu when it radioed for help. It had been travelling from Patras in western Greece to the Italian city of Ancona.
Command of the operation was transferred to Italy after winds took the helpless vessel out of Greek waters but officials were coordinating closely and an Albanian coastguard vessel was also taking part.
A coastguard official said nearby passenger and container ships had attempted to form a ring around the burning vessel to try to form a windbreak to allow small rescue boats to approach.
Officials said most of the passengers were Greek but the passenger list included names from several other countries including Germany, Italy, Austria, Turkey, France and the Netherlands. Many appeared to be truck drivers.
The fire broke out in the lower deck garage of the vessel but there were differing accounts of when it started. Initial reports said the fire began at around 6.00 a.m. (0400 GMT) but Italian officials put the time at 4.30 am.
The Norman Atlantic is a 26,900-tonne, roll-on roll-off ferry chartered by Greek ferry company ANEK. According to marine traffic data, it was built in 2009 and previously operated in Italy. ANEK said in a statement it was cooperating with rescue authorities.
Loved ones awaited word on Sunday about Air Asia Flight 8501, which had 162 people on board. Credit Fully Handoko/European Pressphoto Agency
The head of the Indonesian agency searching for a missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people said Monday that he believed the aircraft was “at the bottom of the sea” and warned that the country lacked adequate equipment to conduct an underwater search.
“The capability of our equipment is not optimum,” Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, said at a news conference.
Malaysia, Singapore and Australia joined the search-and-rescue operation, an effort that evoked a distressingly familiar mix of grief and mystery nine months after a Malaysia Airlines jetliner disappeared over the Indian Ocean.
The Airbus A320-200, operated by the Indonesian affiliate of AirAsia, a regional budget carrier based in Malaysia, lost contact with ground controllers off the coast of Borneo on Sunday morning.
And while it seemed premature to make comparisons to the Malaysian jetliner that disappeared in March, the Indonesian authorities could not explain why the AirAsia jet vanished from radar screens about 40 minutes after leaving the Indonesian city of Surabaya around 5:30 a.m.
By mid-morning on Monday, Indonesian authorities said they had found no sign of the wreckage.
The weather along the path of Flight 8501 to Singapore on Sunday was cloudy, and a weather monitoring service based in the United States reported a number of lightning strikes along the way. But the monsoon conditions did not seem insurmountable for a modern airliner.
The route was a well-traveled part of the Indonesian archipelago; six other aircraft were in the vicinity of Flight 8501 when it disappeared, according to data by Flightradar24.com, an organization that tracks aircraft.
The search was being conducted in a 100-mile stretch of the Java Sea near the island of Belitung, between the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the plane’s last known location.
Shortly before contact was lost, the cockpit crew informed air traffic controllers in Jakarta that it was planning to rise to 38,000 from 32,000 feet to avoid a cloud, Djoko Murjatmodjo, the acting director general of air transport at Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation, told reporters at a news conference in Jakarta. “We don’t know where the exact location is, except that this morning at 6:17, we lost contact,” Mr. Djoko said. The Singapore authorities said contact was lost at 6:24 a.m. Jakarta time; the discrepancy has not been explained.
The newspaper Kompas in Indonesia quoted Mr. Djoko as saying that the plane’s request to divert from its flight path was approved but that air traffic controllers denied the request to ascend to 38,000 feet “because of traffic.” He did not elaborate.
Mr. Djoko said the authorities had not detected any emergency distress beacons that were normally triggered by an accident.“Therefore, we cannot assume anything yet,” he said.
The newspaper also quoted Syamsul Huda, director for aviation and meteorology at the Indonesian state weather agency, as saying that there were “many clouds along the route,” including large cumulonimbus clouds.
Earth Networks, a company that tracks weather conditions across the globe, said it recorded a number of lightning strikes “near the path” of Flight 8501 on Sunday morning between 6:09 and 6:20. While it is rare for a lightning strike to cause serious structural damage that threatens the safety of an aircraft, it can disrupt navigation systems, such as magnetic compasses. A lightning flash, particularly at night, can also momentarily disorient the pilots.
The turbulence associated with a big storm can sometimes be severe, and sudden shifts in wind direction could disrupt the airflow through a jet engine, potentially causing it to shut down. However, a shutdown of both engines in such a situation would be highly unlikely and the Airbus A320 is certified to fly up to three hours on a single engine, in compliance with global aviation safety regulations.
The Malaysian chief executive of the airline, Tony Fernandes, said in a Twitter message on Sunday that he was traveling to Surabaya, where most of the plane’s 155 passengers were from.
Indonesia sent at least three warships and five aircraft to search for the plane, Malaysia deployed three boats and three aircraft, and Singapore said it sent a C-130 plane to assist in the search. Australia also offered to lend ships and aircraft to the effort.
AirAsia said in its statement that the passengers included 16 children and one infant. A crew of two pilots and five cabin crew members were also on board.The passengers and crew were listed as 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Briton and a French citizen, AirAsia said.
The captain was identified as Iriyanto, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. France’s Foreign Ministry said the French citizen was the co-pilot.
Indonesian news media quoted friends and relatives of Captain Iriyanto saying he took his family last week to visit the grave of his younger brother, who died recently. Media reports also described the pilot as a fan of motorcycles and a devoted member of his local mosque. He had previously worked as a pilot at Adam Air, a troubled Indonesian airline with a poor safety record. The Kompas newspaper quoted the pilot’s cousin as saying that Captain Iriyanto moved to AirAsia after Adam Air shut down in 2008.
Airbus said in a statement Sunday that the aircraft was delivered to the airline in 2008, and that it had flown around 13,600 flights.
The missing plane capped a disastrous year for Malaysian airlines. In addition to the Malaysia Airlines jet lost over the Indian Ocean in March, which has yet to be found, another Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July. Both of those planes were Boeing 777-200ERs.
But the AirAsia plane’s disappearance was perhaps even more rattling for Indonesia, which has seen explosive growth in air travel despite a troublesome safety record and a string of plane accidents over the years.
While many accidents have not caused fatalities, the recurring headlines and images of dazed passengers swimming ashore have raised concerns abroad that Indonesia’s air safety regulations have failed to keep pace with the industry’s growth.
Since 2007, the European Union has barred dozens of carriers from Indonesia from its skies, in an effort to pressure local regulators to shore up air safety standards. The majority of airlines that appear on the European Union’s so-called aviation blacklist — which includes airlines from several African countries — do not operate flights to Europe. However, travel agencies across the 28-member bloc are required to inform all European passengers who have plans to travel on a carrier listed on the aviation blacklist.
AirAsia, one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines, has an excellent safety record. Its Indonesian subsidiary is not included on the European safety list, which was most recently updated this month. However, a budget long-haul affiliate, Indonesia AirAsia X, is among the airlines listed.
The missing aircraft last underwent scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, AirAsia said.
AirAsia waited more than four hours to announce on its Facebook page that the aircraft was missing. The airline did not explain the delay. In the hours after the plane was reported missing, American law enforcement agents and intelligence analysts began combing through recent collections of phone intercepts, Internet postings and other communications but found no indications of a terrorist threat or other foul play, officials said.
source: nytimes.com
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
2 hours, 10 min. after takeoff
Scheduled landing
in Singapore
Indonesia
Approx.
flight
path
Estimated position
when AirNav Indonesia
lost radar contact
Java
Sea
Jakarta
5:20 a.m.
Scheduled takeoff
from Surabaya
Indian Ocean
300 miles
The newspaper also quoted Syamsul Huda, director for aviation and meteorology at the Indonesian state weather agency, as saying that there were “many clouds along the route,” including large cumulonimbus clouds.
Earth Networks, a company that tracks weather conditions across the globe, said it recorded a number of lightning strikes “near the path” of Flight 8501 on Sunday morning between 6:09 and 6:20. While it is rare for a lightning strike to cause serious structural damage that threatens the safety of an aircraft, it can disrupt navigation systems, such as magnetic compasses. A lightning flash, particularly at night, can also momentarily disorient the pilots.
The turbulence associated with a big storm can sometimes be severe, and sudden shifts in wind direction could disrupt the airflow through a jet engine, potentially causing it to shut down. However, a shutdown of both engines in such a situation would be highly unlikely and the Airbus A320 is certified to fly up to three hours on a single engine, in compliance with global aviation safety regulations.
The Malaysian chief executive of the airline, Tony Fernandes, said in a Twitter message on Sunday that he was traveling to Surabaya, where most of the plane’s 155 passengers were from.
Indonesia sent at least three warships and five aircraft to search for the plane, Malaysia deployed three boats and three aircraft, and Singapore said it sent a C-130 plane to assist in the search. Australia also offered to lend ships and aircraft to the effort.
AirAsia said in its statement that the passengers included 16 children and one infant. A crew of two pilots and five cabin crew members were also on board.The passengers and crew were listed as 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Briton and a French citizen, AirAsia said.
The captain was identified as Iriyanto, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. France’s Foreign Ministry said the French citizen was the co-pilot.
Photo
The head of the Indonesian agency searching for a missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people said Monday that he believed the aircraft was “at the bottom of the sea” and warned that the country lacked adequate equipment to conduct an underwater search.
“The capability of our equipment is not optimum,” Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, said at a news conference.
Malaysia, Singapore and Australia joined the search-and-rescue operation, an effort that evoked a distressingly familiar mix of grief and mystery nine months after a Malaysia Airlines jetliner disappeared over the Indian Ocean.
The Airbus A320-200, operated by the Indonesian affiliate of AirAsia, a regional budget carrier based in Malaysia, lost contact with ground controllers off the coast of Borneo on Sunday morning.
And while it seemed premature to make comparisons to the Malaysian jetliner that disappeared in March, the Indonesian authorities could not explain why the AirAsia jet vanished from radar screens about 40 minutes after leaving the Indonesian city of Surabaya around 5:30 a.m.
Σε μια ομάδα δύσκολα να χωρέσουν, αλλά σε ένα βίντεο όλοι οι καλοί χωράνε. Απολαύστε τα καλύτερα γκολ του 2014 έτσι όπως τα επέλεξε ένας χρήστης του youtube με τους Κριστιάνο Ρονάλντο, Μέσι, Φαν Πέρσι, Ρόμπεν, Χάμες Ροντρίγκες, Λαμέλα, Τέβες να έχουν τη δική τους ξεχωριστή θέση.
«Συντετριμμένη» η AirAsia για την εξαφάνιση του Airbus
«Συντετριμμένος» για την εξαφάνιση του Airbus που μετέφερε 162 άτομα δήλωσε ο πρόεδρος της μαλαισιανής αεροπορικής εταιρείας AirAsia, Τόνι Φερνάντες.
Το αεροσκάφος εξαφανίστηκε μεταξύ Ινδονησίας και Σιγκαπούρης, λίγη ώρα αφότου ο πιλότος ζήτησε άδεια να ανέβει πιο ψηλά για να αποφύγει την κακοκαιρία. Ωστόσο, το αεροσκάφος δεν εξέπεμψε σήμα κινδύνου.
«Είμαστε συντετριμμένοι από αυτό που συνέβη, είναι απίστευτο» δήλωσε ο Φερνάντες. «Η ανησυχία μας τώρα αφορά τους συγγενείς -δεν υπάρχει τίποτα πιο σημαντικό για εμάς από τις οικογένειες του πληρώματος και τις οικογένειες των επιβατών» πρόσθεσε ο πρόεδρος της εταιρείας χαμηλού κόστους.
«Ελπίζουμε να βρεθεί σύντομα το αεροσκάφος και να βρεθεί η αιτία αυτού που συνέβη» δήλωσε.
Μετά την εξαφάνιση του αεροσκάφους ξεκίνησε επιχείρηση εντοπισμού και διάσωσης, ωστόσο μέχρι να πέσει η νύχτα στην περιοχή τίποτα δεν είχε βρεθεί. Οι έρευνες διακόπηκαν για τη νύχτα και θα συνεχίζονταν από τα ξημερώματα της Δευτέρας.
Το Airbus 320-200 που εκτελούσε την πτήση QZ8501 από το Τζουάντα στην Ιάβα προς το Σάνγκι στη Σιγκαπούρη μετέφερε 155 επιβάτες και επταμελές πλήρωμα.
Έχασε την επαφή με τον πύργο ελέγχου στην Τζακάρτα σήμερα στις 6:17 π.μ.
Η εταιρεία Airbus ανακοίνωσε πως το αεροπλάνο που αγνοείται είχε παραδοθεί στην AirAsia το 2008 και είχε καταγράψει 23.000 ώρες πτήσης στη διάρκεια 13.600 πτήσεων.
Η AirAsia ανακοίνωσε πως το αεροπλάνο είχε υποβληθεί στην τελευταία προγραμματισμένη συντήρησή του στις 16 Νοεμβρίου.
Τη βοήθειά τους στην Ινδονησία προσφέρουν αρκετές χώρες.
Έτοιμες να βοηθήσουν στις έρευνες για τον εντοπισμό του αγνοούμενου αεροσκάφους της ινδονησιακής εταιρείας AirAsia είναι οι ΗΠΑ, ανακοίνωσε το Στέιτ Ντιπάρτμεντ.
«Οι αρχές στην περιοχή ηγούνται των ερευνών εντοπισμού του αγνοούμενου αεροπλάνου. Όπως έχει συμβεί στο παρελθόν, οι ΗΠΑ είναι έτοιμες να βοηθήσουν με όποιο τρόπο χρειαστεί» αναφέρει σε ανακοίνωσή του το Στέιτ Ντιπάρτμεντ.
Η Αυστραλία προσφέρθηκε να συμβάλει στις έρευνες των ινδονησιακών αρχών για τον εντοπισμό του αεροσκάφους, δήλωσε η υπουργός Εξωτερικών της Αυστραλίας Τζούλι Μπίσοπ, η οποία είχε σχετική επικοινωνία με τον Ινδονήσιο συνάδελφό της.
Ο αυστραλός πρωθυπουργός Τόνι Άμποτ επικοινώνησε λίγο αργότερα με τον πρόεδρο της Ινδονησίας και υποσχέθηκε κι αυτός κάθε δυνατή βοήθεια.
Australia has deployed a RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft to search for the missing AsiaAir flight.
Indonesia has accepted Australia’s offer to help with the search and rescue mission for missing AsiaAir flight QZ8501, which vanished over the Java Sea on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop phoned her Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi, shortly after the plane’s disappearance was made public.
No Australians were on board but the government is cross-checking the flight manifest to see if any dual Australian citizens were on board.
On Monday, the Australian Defence Force said it had dispatched an RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft from Darwin to assist with the Indonesian-led search.
“Our focus at this point must be on finding the plane… at this stage we are just hoping and praying that some passengers and crew can be rescued,” Ms Bishop said.
But she warned that “as time goes on” fears about the fate of the 162 passengers and crew would likely be confirmed.
Defence Force Chief Mark Binskin said the P3 Orion has “a well proven capability” in search and rescues and carries maritime search radar, infra-red technology and electro-optical sensors.
Ms Bishop said Singapore had also provided support for the search effort given it was the country where the plane was originally due to land after its departure from Indonesia.
Speaking to ABC television, Ms Bishop revealed that during her conversation with Ms Marsudi she reflected on how aircraft disasters had brought Australia and Indonesia closer together in 2014.
“I was talking to Foreign Minister Marsudi about Malaysia Airlines MH17 because she was Indonesia’s ambassador to the Netherlands during the MH17 tragedy,” she said.
“Indonesia lost twelve citizens on that flight, so we were discussing how sad it was that so often when we speak its in relation to an emergency or a tragedy involving an airline.”
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 