INDONESIA

AirAsia Crash Puts the Spot Light on Aviation and Media Regulation in Indonesia

A vigil has been held in the Indonesian city of Surabaya for the victims of the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crash. Hundreds of residents and relatives of those on board lit candles and observed a minute's silence for the victims.

Flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people from Surabaya to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday. Debris from the flight was located in the sea on Tuesday and bodies are now being retrieved.

Many of the passengers who boarded the flight that left Surabaya’s Airport for Singapore early Sunday morning were ethnic Chinese families going on year-end holidays.

42 minutes after takeoff the plane vanished. It is not yet clear what happened to the plane but its last communication was a request to air traffic control to fly higher to avoid a bad storm.

The pilot did not respond when given permission.

A three-day search came to head on Tuesday with the discovery of remains including aircraft parts, luggage and bodies south-west of Pangkalan Bun.

Indonesia President Joko Widodo has been leading the recovery operation.

“Our main priority is to recover the bodies as quickly as possible. But if you look at the area where the plane crashed you can see that the weather is stormy and the waves can get up to two meters high,” said President Widodo.

There were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew on the AirAsia flight.

AirAsia previously had an excellent safety record and there were no fatal accidents involving its aircraft. AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes says the disaster will be with him for the rest of his life.

More and more people are flying in Indonesia as the middle class booms. But the countries aviation industry has struggled to keep up.

Many officials, both local and abroad, have long warned that there are now not enough qualified aviation experts, regulatory oversight and equipment.

The country’s major hub, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, was originally built to serve 22 million passengers. But in 2013, it handled more than 60 million.

The disaster has also raised questions about regulation of the Indonesian media.

Several media such as Indonesian Television channel TVOne showed images of swollen bodies in the sea.

For the families it was a brutal way to find out the fate of their loved ones.  When the live images were seen in the crisis centre one family member fainted while others cried hysterically.

The head of the Indonesian association of independent journalists Suwarjono says it was unethical journalism. 

“The images of the victims were vulgar and too detailed.  Even worse was the fact that they were screen nationwide at a time when the families of the victims did not know the fate of their love ones.  It was a brutal blow for them,” said Suwarjono.

TVOne has apologized for showing the images but this disaster has spark debate about Indonesians aviation industry and regulations of its media.

• Indonesia
• Air Asia
• aviation
• media
• KBR