Authorities ask residents to find Qantas debris

AUSTRALIAN authorities are asking residents of Indonesia's Batam Island to help them find a crucial piece of debris lost from a Qantas Airbus last week.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating Thursday's mid-flight failure in the number two engine of QF32, an Airbus A380 superjumbo.
None of its more than 400 passengers was injured nor any of the residents of Batam Island, which was showered by engine debris.
The ATSB today urged any Batam Island residents who might have found parts of the plane, in particular a geared disk, to hand them in to local police.
It has provided a photograph of a disk similar to the one it is seeking. "The recovery of that disk could be crucial to a full understanding of the nature of the engine failure, and may have implications for the prevention of future similar occurrences," the ATSB said.
The Indonesian Transportation Safety Committee has assisted the ATSB with the recovery of a number of items of debris from the A380.
The items arrived in Singapore yesterday, and a portion of a recovered engine component will be sent to the UK to be examined by the manufacturer and other experts.
Additional ATSB investigators will leave Australia today for the UK to supervise the task, and to Singapore to expand inquiries there.

news.com.au