REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Seven bodies of victims of the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft have been recovered by the search and rescue team during the evacuation process.
"We have not found the airframe yet. But, we found seven bodies so far," Chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Vice Marshal F.H.B. Soelistyo said here on a press conference, Wednesday (31/12).
The seven bodies consist of four males and three females.
Six of them were still carried by Indonesian Warship KRI Banda Aceh, while the other one on a Malaysian ship.
"We wanted to evacuate the bodies from the ships, however, two of our helicopters had to return to Pangkalan Bun due to bad weather," Soelistyo said.
As many as 168 coffins have been available in Pangkalan Bun for the evacuation of the bodies to Surabaya.
The evacuation process is now focused on two sectors, which are on sector four and sector five, located near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province.
As many as 17 helicopters and nine aircraft will be scrambled on the fourth day of the search operation.
The AirAsia's Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people had gone missing on Sunday morning (Dec. 28) after losing contact with air traffic control on its way from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore.
The Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 lost contact after the pilot requested to ascend to 38 thousand feet from 32 thousand feet to avoid bad weather over the sea area between Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan.
The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members. It took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 5:36 a.m. local time and lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. local time.
The plane, piloted by Captain Iriyanto and First Officer (FO) Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Seven foreigners are among the passengers of the missing jet. The foreign nationals comprise three Koreans, a Singaporean, a British, a Malaysian, and a First Officer (FO) from France.
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