RESCUE

U.S. Sends Destroyer for AirAsia Search

After Indonesia requested assistance.

The U.S. will be sending the USS Sampson to assist in the search effort for AirAsia flight QZ8501. According to a Pentagon spokesperson, Indonesia's request for assistance could include sub-surface "detection capabilities," among othr things.

Earlier on Monday Indonesian officials said that an Australian aircraft spotted suspicious objects in the sea near Nangka Island, about 700 miles from the location where an AirAsia jet went missing Sunday. Jakarta’s air force base commander, Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto, said that an Australian Orion aircraft detected objects about 100 miles southwest of Pangkalan Bun. “However, we cannot be sure whether it was part of the missing AirAsia plane,” Putranto said. “We are now moving in that direction, which is in cloudy conditions.”

Flight QZ8501 went missing during a flight from Indonesia’s Surabaya city to Singapore, carrying 155 passengers including 16 children and seven crewmembers. The plane lost contact with air-traffic control over the Java Sea just after the pilot requested a change of flight plan because of poor weather conditions. The request climb higher to avoid threatening clouds was not immediately granted permission because it was too crowded with six other commercial airlines.