A fisherman found a piece of the Boeing 737-400 that disappeared more than 10 days ago, leading officials to determine that the plane carrying 102 people had crashed into the sea off northwestern Indonesia, a top search official said Thursday.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday night that a piece of the tail from Adam Air Flight KI-574 was recovered Wednesday in the Makassar Strait, 185 miles off Sulawesi Island’s coast, said Eddy Suyanto, the head of search and rescue operations.
Suyanto told reporters the serial number on the yard-long tail stabilizer matched the one given to the search and rescue teams by Boeing.
No survivors or bodies have been recovered, Suyanto said.
In a separate incident, Indonesian searchers called upon a U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship Wednesday to investigate three pieces of metal found off the coast of Sulawesi on Monday. Officials said the metal could be the remains of the missing jetliner carrying University students Stephanie and Lindsey Jackson.
Investigators were still unable to definitively identify what the metal was Wednesday.
The flight went missing on Jan 1. after reporting encountering high winds and altering its flight path at least twice. The Boeing 737-400 carried 96 passengers and six crew members on board, including the Jackson sisters and their father, Scott Jackson.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has participated in the investigation since Friday along with teams from General Electric Engines and Boeing in an effort to locate the flight that went missing more than a week ago.
Thousands of Indonesian military and volunteers will continue to investigate the area today along with additional teams from the United States and Singapore.
– Staff reporters
Tail of missing flight found in sea
Daily Emerald
January 10, 2007
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