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31 bodies recovered, says Basarnas

National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) chief Air Chief Marshal F

The Jakarta Post

Jakarta

Sun, January 4, 2015 Published on Jan. 4, 2015 Published on 2015-01-04T13:35:14+07:00

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ational Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) chief Air Chief Marshal F. Henry Bambang Soelistyo has said that as of Sunday, a joint search and rescue (SAR) team had managed to recover 31 bodies of people aboard AirAsia flight QZ8501, which crashed into the waters of the Karimata Strait on Dec. 28.

'I can confirm that as of today, the number of bodies recovered has reached 31, of which 30 have been sent to Surabaya. The remaining one body is still on a vessel and will be brought to Pangkalan Bun [Central Kalimantan],' said Soelistyo as quoted by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Sunday.

The Basarnas commander went on to say that the team had identified a fifth object, suspected to be part of the aircraft body; however, bad weather including heavy rainfall and high waves in the search area was continuing to hinder operations.

Diving to search for bodies, conducted by a joint diver team, had been also temporarily halted, he added.

'We have temporarily halted the sea-diving operation until the weather improves,' said Soelistyo, revealing that nine vessels were on stand-by at the location where the diving operation would be conducted.

Earlier, Basarnas announced that the SAR team had identified four larger objects, suspected to be the body of the aircraft. (ebf)