Friday, January 2, 2015

Thirty bodies now recovered in search for AirAsia Flight 8501 victims

Thirty bodies now recovered in search for AirAsia Flight 8501 victims

Rescue teams battling monsoon rains had their most successful day yet on Friday, more than tripling the number of bodies pulled from the Java Sea so far. An Indonesian navy official said some of the dead were still strapped to their seats.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Published: Friday, January 2, 2015, 7:16 AM
 
Updated: Friday, January 2, 2015, 8:37 AM
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More bodies of AirAsia victims return to relatives
Reuters
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia - After nearly a week of searching for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, rescue teams battling monsoon rains had their most successful day yet on Friday, more than tripling the number of bodies pulled from the Java Sea, some still strapped to their seats.
Of the 30 corpses recovered so far, 21 were found on Friday, many of them by a U.S. Navy ship, according to officials.
The Airbus A320 carrying 162 passengers and crew went down Sunday, halfway into a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, to Singapore. Minutes before losing contact, the pilot told air-traffic control he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic.
It remains unclear what caused the plane to plunge into the sea. The accident was AirAsia's first since it began operations in 2001, quickly becoming one of the region's most popular low-cost carriers.
In addition to looking for victims, Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said ships from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the U.S. are scouring the ocean floor as they try to pinpoint wreckage and the all-important black boxes.
The data recorder contains crucial information like engine temperature and vertical and horizontal speed; the voice recorder saves conversations between pilots and other sounds coming from inside the cockpit.
Caskets containing the remains of AirAsia passengers recovered from the sea are carried to a military transport plane before being transported to Surabaya on Friday.
Caskets containing the remains of AirAsia passengers recovered from the sea are carried to a military transport plane before being transported to Surabaya on Friday.
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  • Caskets containing the remains of AirAsia QZ8501 passengers recovered from the sea are carried to a military transport plane before being transported to Surabaya, where the flight originated, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan January 2, 2015. Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Friday hunting for the wreck of the Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather was again hindering the search for the plane and the black box flight recorders that should reveal why it crashed. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (INDONESIA - Tags: DISASTER TRANSPORT MILITARY)
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  • Caskets containing the remains of AirAsia QZ8501 passengers recovered from the sea are carried to a military transport plane before being transported to Surabaya, where the flight originated, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan January 2, 2015.Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Friday hunting for the wreck of the Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather was again hindering the search for the plane and the black box flight recorders that should reveal why it crashed. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (INDONESIA - Tags: TRANSPORT MILITARY DISASTER)
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  • Indonesian officers carry coffins with the remains of passengers of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 before they are sent to Surabaya, at the base in Pangkalan Bun, the town with the nearest airstrip to the crash site, in Central Kalimantan on January 2, 2015. Indonesian recovery teams narrowed the search area for AirAsia Flight 8501 on January 2, hopeful they were closing in on the plane's crash site, with a total of 16 bodies and more debris recovered from the sea. AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRYADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Indonesian officers carry a coffin with the remains of a passenger of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 before it is sent to Surabaya, at the base in Pangkalan Bun, the town with the nearest airstrip to the crash site, in Central Kalimantan on January 2, 2015. Indonesian recovery teams narrowed the search area for AirAsia Flight 8501 on January 2, hopeful they were closing in on the plane's crash site, with a total of 16 bodies and more debris recovered from the sea. AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRYADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Caskets containing the remains of AirAsia QZ8501 passengers recovered from the sea are carried to a military transport plane before being transported to Surabaya, where the flight originated, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan January 2, 2015. Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Friday hunting for the wreck of the Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather was again hindering the search for the plane and the black box flight recorders that should reveal why it crashed. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (INDONESIA - Tags: TRANSPORT MILITARY DISASTER)
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DARREN WHITESIDE/REUTERS
Toos Saniotoso, an Indonesian air safety investigator, said investigators "are looking at every aspect" as they try to determine why the plane crashed. "From the operational side, the human factor, the technical side, the ATC (air-traffic control) — everything is valuable to us."
Bad weather, which has hindered the search for the past several days, remained a worry. A drizzle and light clouds covered the area Friday morning, but rain, strong winds and high waves up to 4 meters (13 feet) were forecast until Sunday. Strong sea currents have also kept debris moving.
That has severely slowed recovery efforts, as well, as bodies drift farther and farther away.
Col. Yayan Sofiyan, commander of the warship Bung Tomo, told MetroTV his vessel managed to pull seven bodies from the choppy waters on Friday, five still fastened in their seats.
Soelistyo, who was only able to confirm two victims in their seats, said a total of 30 bodies have been recovered.
Family members of Grayson Herbert Linaksita, a passenger of AirAsia Flight 8501, cry before receiving his remains at Bhayankara Hospital in Surabaya.
Family members of Grayson Herbert Linaksita, a passenger of AirAsia Flight 8501, cry before receiving his remains at Bhayankara Hospital in Surabaya.
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  • Family members of Grayson Herbert Linaksita, a passenger of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, cry before receiving his remains at Bhayankara Hospital in Surabaya January 2, 2015. Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Friday hunting for the wreck of the Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather was again hindering the search for the plane and the black box flight recorders that should reveal why it crashed. Officials said more than 20 bodies have now been recovered, along with pieces of the broken-up plane, in the Indonesian-led search for Flight QZ8501 that is concentrated on 1,575 square nautical miles of the northern Java Sea.REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas(INDONESIA - Tags: DISASTER TRANSPORT)
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  • A member of the Indonesia Red Cross walks among coffins for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 at the main hospital in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 2, 2015. More ships arrived Friday with sensitive equipment to hunt for the fuselage of the flight and the more than 145 people still missing since it crashed into the sea five days ago. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
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  • The relative (C) of a passenger of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 performs Friday prayers at a mosque inside the police centre in Surabaya January 2, 2015. Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Friday hunting for the wreck of the Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather was again hindering the search for the plane and the black box flight recorders that should reveal why it crashed. Officials said more than 20 bodies have now been recovered, along with pieces of the broken-up plane, in the Indonesian-led search for Flight QZ8501 that is concentrated on 1,575 square nautical miles of the northern Java Sea. REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas(INDONESIA - Tags: TRANSPORT DISASTER)
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  • A friend of Grayson Herbert Linaksita, a passenger of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, gives a eulogy at The Adijasa crematorium in Surabaya January 2, 2015. Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Friday hunting for the wreck of the Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather was again hindering the search for the plane and the black box flight recorders that should reveal why it crashed. Officials said more than 20 bodies have now been recovered, along with pieces of the broken-up plane, in the Indonesian-led search for Flight QZ8501 that is concentrated on 1,575 square nautical miles of the northern Java Sea. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha (INDONESIA - Tags: DISASTER TRANSPORT)
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  • SURABAYA, INDONESIA - JANUARY 02: AirAsia representatives hug the relatives of AirAsia flight QZ8501 victims during handover ceremony at Bhayangkara Police Hospital on January 2, 2015 in Surabaya, Indonesia. A massive recovery operation is underway in waters off Borneo to recover bodies and debris from the missing AirAsia plane. AirAsia announced that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore, with 162 people on board, lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24 a.m. local time on December 28. (Photo by Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images)
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SIGIT PAMUNGKAS/REUTERS
More than a third have been pulled out by a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Sampson.
Soelistyo pledged to recover the bodies of "our brothers and sisters ... whatever conditions we face."
Four crash victims have been identified and returned to their families, including a flight attendant and a 12-year-old boy.
After prayers on Friday, the holiest day of the week for Muslims, more than 200 people gathered at a mosque in Surabaya to remember the victims.
"We pray that the passengers in this AirAsia tragedy will be received by Allah," the imam said, "and that all their sins will be forgiven by Allah."
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