S'pore awaits greenlight from Indonesia to send underwater detectors

Singapore is waiting for greenlight from the Indonesian authorities to deploy underwater locator beacon detectors to assist in locating the flight data recorders of AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501.

An official from the Singapore Ministry of Transport's Air Accident Investigations Bureau (AAIB) said they have prepared two sets of the equipment and four specialists to be sent to the search and locate (SAL) area.

"One of these equipment is the hydrophone, which is used to detect signals emitted from the flight data recorders. This hydrophone will be first put into the water and will rotate 360 degrees to find the signal," he told a media briefing at the Terminal Two, Changi Airport, here today.

After the signal has been established, they will then determine the exact location where the signals came from.

"In ideal sea condition, these detectors can detect the signal up to two to three nautical miles," he said when asked how reliable is the equipment if there are obstacles in its way.

When asked whether these detectors were the ones used during the MH370 search, the official said :" It served the same purpose but not the same model".

Earlier, the official briefed the media on how the equipment would be used and their functions in the SAL operation.

The SAL operation, which resumed this morning, also received assistance from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

The search team is reported to be focusing on two sea areas between Kalimantan and Tanjung Pandan on Belitung island.