TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tatang Kurniadi, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNTK), said that the investigation over the AirAsia QZ8501 crash is targeted for completion in October this year. He said the KNTK requires an additional two months to obtain responses from other countries with interests in the investigation.

"That would be the maximum time," he said at Tanjung Priok Port, yesterday.

Compared to other cases of aircraft accidents in Indonesia, Tatang admitted that this one takes the longest process of investigation.

The KNTK expects a team from Airbus and French accident investigators between March 10 and 12. Tatang said they would help analyze the data collected from the investigation. In addition, the Indonesian team of investigators also receives assistance countries whose citizens became victims of the crash; South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 took off on Sunday morning, December 28, 2014 from Surabaya to Singapore. It was about halfway to its destination when it lost contact with air traffic controller at 6.17 am. Rescuers then found the plane had crashed in the Karimata Strait, killing all 162 people on board.

ALI HIDAYAT