AirAsia CEO on missing flight: Been of my toughest days

“The relatives of my crew were inspirational and so moving … gave me huge strength,” tweeted AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes, after spending a large part of the day meeting families of passengers and the crew, except for three families, that of the engineer, flight officer, and one crew member. “Been one of my toughest days,” he added.

According to a live blog feed from channelnewsasia.com, Indonesia has widened the air search from five areas to a more detailed 13-area search zone. One of the search objectives will be to head to Pulau Lung where smoke was spotted. Pulau Lung is about 70 km from the operations base.

The search area has expanded into land, said Indonesia authorities. The AP reports that four helicopters have been sent to do the land search. Two small planes have been sent to check on reports of a fire spotted on an island in search zone, says reports from CNN and CBS. Malaysian Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar has tweeted that the search sectors off Belitung Island have been revised.

The weather at the Belitung Island search zone is cloudy, with waves approximately 1 to 2 meters high, said Chief Commander of the Manggar Navy Base Purwanto. He added that it will probably rain, but the search for the missing jet will still continue, except in extreme conditions.

China will send a naval ship and air force jet to help in the search for QZ8501. The naval ship, a frigate, is already patrolling in the South China Sea and will head to the search zone, while the air force jet is “coordinating with countries on the flight route.”

Indonesia approached the US for help in locating the missing AirAsia flight, said the US State Department. The US Navy said that the USS Sampson, a destroyer, will be deployed. It is scheduled to reach the search area later on Tuesday.