TEMPO.CO, Pangkalpinang - Fishing boat captain Fahriawan said he saw a red plane that looked like an AirAsia aircraft flying low near the waters of Lingga Island, Riau Islands yesterday morning.
Capt. Fahriawan could not confirm whether the plane was indeed the AirAsia plane that went missing that Sunday morning.
"The visibility was only about 2 miles due to fog and heavy rain. It made it difficult for me to read what was written on the plane's body. However, I could clearly see that the plane was flying low," he told Tempo yesterday.
He was certain that the plane had a red color, similar to AirAsia planes' color. "What I saw was a red plane flying low at around 08.00 in coordinates 00.17.202 S and 105.40.422 on the eastern waters surrounding Lingga Island."
AirAsia flight QZ8501 took off on Sunday morning from Surabaya to Singapore. It was about halfway to its destination when it lost contact with air traffic controller at 6.17 am. The plane was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members.
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