AirAsia light QZ8501: Indonesia’s navy official ’40 bodies’ recovered in debris zone
Rescue teams pulled bodies and debris from the Java Sea on Tuesday as Indonesia officials said they were “95 percent sure” they had found the AirAsia passenger jet that disappeared with 162 people aboard.
At least 40 bodies have been recovered from the sea in the search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501, the Indonesian navy says.
The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency told NBC News that teams searching for the airliner had located at least six corpses, three of which were recovered.
An airplane emergency exit door and red, white and black debris — the colors of the AirAsia jet — were identified from the air, the agency added. Images broadcast on Indonesian television showed bodies and objects floating in the sea.
“At the present time, search and rescue operations are still in progress and further investigation of the debris found at the location is still underway,” the airline said in a statement expressing condolences and regrets.
The search operation is now in its third day, with the area widened to cover 13 zones over land and sea.
The BBC noted that “Relatives of the passengers screamed and wailed as local television networks showed pictures of what was clearly a human body floating in the water…Grown men put their hands to their faces. At least two people collapsed and were taken out of the room on stretchers.”
The mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, went from one crying relative to another, and at one point walked out with a grieving man, while telling him: “We don’t have a choice. Today this happens to you, tomorrow it may happen to me. Nobody knows. So you have to be strong. Our lives belong to God.”
