The body of a seventh AirAsia Flight 8501 victim was recovered yesterday, though rescue teams had to suspend their efforts due to poor weather.
The plane disappeared midway through its two-hour journey from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore on Sunday. Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency Chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo told the Associated Press that seven bodies had been recovered, and the Associated Press added that sonar images detected what looked like large pieces of the plane. However, strong currents and bad weather brought the search to a premature end:
Conditions prevented divers from entering the choppy Java Sea, and helicopters were largely grounded. But 18 ships scoured the narrowed search area, and four of the seven corpses were recovered Wednesday before the search was called off for the day. Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicted conditions would worsen, with more intense rains, through Friday.
It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from yesterday's location, said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the site. "We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches.
According to the Associated Press, the first two victims were identified as a woman and a young boy. Their remains were shipped from Pangkalan Bun to Surabaya in wooden coffins for autopsies. The other victims, three females and two males, will be kept on a warship until conditions improve.
[via Associated Press]
