"The immediate checks ordered are part of preventive and improvement measures," Jokowi said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo has ordered Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan to conduct immediate checks on the conditions of aircraft operating in Indonesia and the implementation of all procedures of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

"The immediate checks ordered are part of preventive and improvement measures," he said while speaking at the main command post of the National Search and Rescue Agencys (Basarnas) AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Search Mission here on Monday.

President Joko Widodo stated that the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency was also ordered to provide planes with more information on bad weather conditions so that pilots flying into the conditions over the Indonesian airspace would have better knowledge of it.

All parties involved in the massive search operations should do their best to find the missing Airbus A320-200 jet, he added.

Furthermore, Vice President Jusuf Kalla noted at a press conference in East Java that the Indonesian government would do its best to find the missing aircraft and would not restrict the time required to search for the ill-fated flight.

"There will be no (time) limit to find the missing aircraft," he told journalists shortly after his arrival at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday afternoon.

Kalla pointed out that the families of the passengers onboard the missing flight had the governments deepest sympathies and that massive search operations it launched had been underway since Sunday when the aircraft lost contact with the air traffic control tower.

According to Chief of the Basarnas F. H. Bambang Sulistyo, the search efforts since Sunday have been focused on seven targeted sectors with the use of aircraft, helicopters, and vessels from the military, police and Basarnas.

Acting director general of Air Transportation Djoko Murdjatmojo explained that the aircraft might have lost contact at 6.17 a. m. on Sunday when it flew between Pontianak, West Kalimantan province, and Tanjung Pandan, Bangka Belitung Province.

"The aircraft lost contact at 6.17 a. m. (Western Indonesian Standard Time). It just lost contact. We do not have any other assumptions," he stated.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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