AirAsia search discovers more bodies

4 January 2015 Last updated at 10:14

Search teams have recovered four more bodies from the Java Sea as the hunt to find the main wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501 enters a second week.

Search and rescue chief Bambang Soelistyo said 34 bodies have now been found, as well as five large objects.

But bad weather has forced divers to suspend their bid to find the plane's fuselage, where most of the bodies are believed to be trapped.

The plane, which was carrying 162 people, crashed last Sunday.

It was en route from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.

Bad weather is believed to be the biggest factor in the crash although the Airbus A320's "black boxes", or flight data recorders, have yet to be located.

Mr Soelistyo said on Sunday that Singapore navy vessel RSS Persistence had recovered one body, while US navy ship USS Sampson had brought three more back to the Indonesian town of Pangkalan Bun.

Nearly 30 ships are now involved in the search operation, as well as six planes and 14 helicopters.

Large objects found

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Debris thought to be from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was filmed floating in the sea

There were hopes the weather would improve on Sunday, but conditions once again hampered efforts to find the plane's main wreckage.

Search teams found four large objects thought to be debris from the plane on Saturday, with the largest measuring 18m (59ft) by 5.4m, at a depth of 30m.

A fifth object, measuring 9.8m by 1.1m, was located on the seabed on Sunday, Mr Soelistyo told reporters.

At the scene: Martin Patience, BBC News, Surabaya

At the Mawar Sharon evangelical church they held their traditional Sunday service, but missing from the pews were dozens members of the congregation.

A week ago they were flying to Singapore - many of them families looking forward to a new year's holiday. But they never made it.

Today, their church prayed for the families of the victims.

Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country but this accident has disproportionately hit Surabaya's Christian community.

Far from the church - the search operation continues in the Java Sea.

The discovery of several large parts of debris from the plane is raising hopes of finding the fuselage, where most of the bodies are believed to be trapped.

'Race against time'

Dozens of divers from Indonesia and Russia have been deployed to the search area, which has been enlarged to allow for tides sweeping bodies and debris further afield.

They attempted to survey more of the seabed on Sunday but "visibility at the sea bottom was zero," Mr Soelistyo said.

Remotely operated cameras were being used to try to photograph the objects, but waves up to 5m (16ft) high and strong currents made their use difficult.

National Search and Rescue deputy chief Tatang Zainudin said: "We are racing with time and weather in running this mission."

On Saturday, Indonesian weather agency BMKG said initial analysis suggested icy conditions in the air had caused the engine to stall.

Officials have said the plane was travelling at 32,000ft when the pilot's last communication was a request to climb to 38,000ft to avoid bad weather.

It has emerged that AirAsia did not have official permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on the day of the crash, but was licensed on four other days of the week.

The Indonesian authorities suspended the company's flights on this route pending an investigation. AirAsia said it will "fully co-operate".

There were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew, on the plane - the majority Indonesian.

AirAsia previously had an excellent safety record, with no fatal accidents involving its aircraft.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the AirAsia flight? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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