JAKARTA, Indonesia--Indonesia has located the tail of AirAsia
Flight 8501 in the Java Sea, the country's search-and-rescue agency
said Wednesday.
Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said that his team has visual
confirmation of the tail on the seafloor. He said divers are
preparing to inspect the wreckage. He declined to say whether
searchers had detected pings coming from the plane's "black box"
flight data and cockpit audio recorders.
Flight 8501, an Airbus A320, crashed into the ocean Dec. 28 with
162 people aboard. Mr. Soelistyo said search teams had recovered
one more body, bringing the total to 40.
Meanwhile, AirAsia Indonesia Chief Executive Sunu Widyatmoko
said his company will pay victims" families nearly $100,000 for
each of the 155 passengers on board Flight 8501. The payout matches
the amount requested a day earlier by the Indonesian government,
which called on insurers to begin processing claims before official
pronouncements of death or the completion of an investigation into
the crash.
Some families had already been offered an initial payment of
almost $24,000, according to a document seen by The Wall Street
Journal.
German insurance giant Allianz SE said last week that a unit
that acted as lead reinsurer for two lost Malaysia Airlines flights
this year is also the underwriter for AirAsia.
Anita Rachman contributed to this article.
Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Allianz SE
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=DE0008404005
Access Investor Kit for AirAsia Bhd.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=MYL5099OO006
Access Investor Kit for Allianz SE
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US0188051017
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires